A Relook into the Flavonoid Chemical Space of Moringa oleifera Lam. Leaves through a Combination of LC-MS and Molecular Networking

Dakalo Lorraine Ndou; Ashwell Rungano Ndhlala; Nikita Tawanda Tavengwa; Ntakadzeni Edwin Madala

doi:10.1155/2023/1327886

A Relook into the Flavonoid Chemical Space of Moringa oleifera Lam. Leaves through a Combination of LC-MS and Molecular Networking

J Anal Methods Chem. 2023 Sep 25:2023:1327886. doi: 10.1155/2023/1327886. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Dakalo Lorraine Ndou¹, Ashwell Rungano Ndhlala², Nikita Tawanda Tavengwa¹, Ntakadzeni Edwin Madala³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Agriculture, University of Venda, Private Bag X5050, Thohoyandou 0950, South Africa.
² Green Biotechnologies Research Centre of Excellence, Department of Plant Production, Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering, University of Limpopo, Private Bag X1106, Sovenga 0727, South Africa.
³ Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Agriculture, University of Venda, Private Bag X5050, Thohoyandou 0950, South Africa.

Abstract

Moringa oleifera Lam. is a functional tree that is known to produce a variety of metabolites with purported pharmacological activities. It is frequently called the "miracle tree" due to its utilization in numerous nutraceutical and pharmacological contexts. This study was aimed at studying the chemical space of M. oleifera leaf extracts through molecular networking (MN), a tool that identifies metabolites by classifying them based on their MS-based fragmentation pattern similarities and signals. In this case, a special emphasis was placed on the flavonoid composition. The MN unraveled different molecular families such as flavonoids, carboxylic acids and derivatives, lignin glycosides, fatty acyls, and macrolactams that are found within the plant. In silico annotation tools such as network annotation propagation (NAP) and DEREPLICATOR, an unsupervised substructure identification tool (MS2LDA), and MolNet enhancer were also explored to further compliment the classic molecular networking output within the Global Natural Product Social (GNPS) site. In this study, common flavonoids found within Moringa oleifera were further annotated using MS2LDA. Utilizing computational tools allowed for the discovery of a wide range of structurally diverse flavonoid molecules within M. oleifera leaf extracts. The expansion of the flavonoid chemical repertoire in this plant arises from intricate glycosylation modifications, leading to the creation of structural isomers that manifest as isobaric ions during mass spectrometry (MS) analyses.