Comparative Metabolite Profiling Between Cordyceps sinensis and Other Cordyceps by Untargeted UHPLC-MS/MS

Cordyceps sinensis is a second-class, nationally protected, medicinal fungi and serves as a functional nutrient in China. C. sinensis is extremely scarce due to its peculiar growing environment and the extensive gathering practices carried out by humans. A large number of counterfeit products for this fungi have also emerged in the market. At present, there is a lack of research on the differential metabolites of C. sinensis and its counterfeit products. The current study used an LC-MS non-targeted metabolomics method to compare the differences in metabolites between C. sinensis and other Cordyceps. The results indicated that there were significant differences in the metabolites between C. sinensis and the others. The 18 superclasses were found to have differences, involving lipids, organic acids, nucleosides, carbohydrates, amino acids, vitamins, and their derivatives. Compared with the other four groups of Cordyceps, 8 metabolites with significant differences were screened. In addition, the types and abundance of different metabolites of nucleosides of C. sinensis were superior compared to other Cordyceps (e.g., 5-Methyldioxycytidine, didanosine, cytidine, etc.). Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis showed that the metabolism of arginine and proline, and glycerophosphate metabolism were the two significant differences in the metabolic pathways between C. sinensis and other Cordyceps. The research results provide a reference for identifying the authenticity of C. sinensis using non-targeted metabolic methods.