Combined transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis - Best quality of wolfberry fruit from the first harvest?

Wolfberry is well-known for its high nutritional value and medicinal benefits. Nevertheless, human beings generally believed that the first harvest of Goji berries is the best on the market, whether it really has the best inner quality remains unclear. Here, the involved molecular mechanisms of difference in fruit quality of ripe Lycium barbarum harvested at four different periods were investigated by transcriptomic and metabolomics analyses for the first time. Ascorbic acid (AsA), succinic acid and glutamic acid (Glu) have significant changes in transcription and metabolism levels. Interestingly, we found that AsA, Glu, glutamine and related enzymes presented the significant differences in different harvesting fruits through the network metabolic map. However, these metabolites played important roles in the ascorbate-glutathione recycling system (AsA-GSH), which effectively scavenging ROS and maintaining redox homeostasis. Overall, AsA-GSH is one of the most significant metabolic pathways in wolfberry. and maybe the AsA contents and AsA-related enzymes in AsA-GSH can be used to evaluate the fruit quality and nutritional and health care value of Lycium barbarum.