Metabolomic analysis of Carica papaya variety Eksotika and Sekaki

S. Sanimah and J. Sarip

Abstract
A comprehensive metabolite profiling analysis was performed using GC-MS based metabolomics approach to investigate the metabolite differences between two popular Malaysian papaya varieties i.e. Eksotika and Sekaki. Principal Component Analysis indicated a clear discrimination of metabolites profile between Eksotika and Sekaki. The strongest contributions to the differences in varieties were the signals associated mostly with amino acids, organic acids, sugar, sugar alcohols, plant sterols, vitamin E, vitamin C and fatty acids. The metabolite differences between five different ripening stages showed strong separation between fruit samples indicating distinct metabolites profile. In Eksotika, metabolites involved in primary metabolism including some amino acids and organic acids clearly appeared to be abundant in the early stages of ripening while some metabolites involved in secondary metabolism (campesterols, colchichine, scopolin), few fatty acids as well as sugars and ascorbic acid appeared to be more abundant in the later stages of ripening. Eksotika possessed a distinct metabolites profile compared to Sekaki and most of the identified metabolites appeared to be more abundant in Eksotika.

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