Exploration of chemical interactions between <i>Viscum combreticola</i> Engl. and its hosts through a metabolic profiling approach and molecular networking

<i>Viscum combreticola</i> Engl., an evergreen semi-parasitic mistletoe plant, is utilized in herbal medicines<i>.</i> Herein, a UHPLC-q-TOF-MS profiling and molecular networking approach were used to investigate the chemical interactions between <i>V. combreticola</i> and two of its host plants, <i>Combretum erythrophyllum</i> and <i>Pseudolachnostylis maprouneifolia</i> Pax. Moreover, <i>in vitro</i> grown <i>V. combreticola</i> seedlings were used to explore the host independence of the phytochemistry of these plants. The phytochemistry of <i>V. combreticola</i> was found to be independent and distinct from that of the host plants. Moreover, both mature <i>V. combreticola</i> and in vitro seedlings displayed diverse polyphenolic compounds but exhibited distinct metabolic profiles. Notably, the esterification of phenolic acids (hydroxycinnamic and benzoic acids) to quinic acid was a unique chemistry that was observed in both mature and <i>in vitro</i> grown <i>V. combreticola</i>. Beyond providing metabolic fingerprints of the studied samples, the UHPLC-q-TOF-MS and molecular networking effectively visualized plant-plant chemical relationships at a metabolite level.