Objective In order to find out the substances that affect the quality and taste of Chaylte Vine, the tender tips of white and Jiangtun cyan Sechium edule were used for metabonomic analysis.

Method Metabolomic detection was carried out for tender tips of the two Sechium edule by using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS), and MetaboAnalyst 5.0, SIMCA-P and Origin software were used to analyze metabolome data.

Result The results showed that there were significant differences in metabolites among tender tips of the two Sechium edule. A total of 135 differential metabolites were screened, including 82 down-regulated metabolites and 53 up-regulated metabolites. The cluster analysis of differential metabolites showed that the content of myrosinaldehyde in white Sechium edule was high, followed by coniferol. The lysophosphatidyl ethanolamine was the highest differential metabolite in Jiangtun cyan Sechium edule, followed by lysophosphatidylcholine. The result of KEGG shows that differential metabolites enriched in 5 major metabolic pathways, including purine, linoleic acid, flavonoid biosynthesis, synthesis of secondary metabolites and α-linolenic acid metabolism.

Conclusion The lipid, flavonoid, alkaloids and nucleotides substances in the tender tips of Jiangtun cyan Sechium edule are high, especially lysophosphatidyl ethanolamine, daidzein, adenosine triphosphate and ferulic spermidine etc. The research results elucidated the nutritional and medicinal basis of the metabolomics of Jiangtun cyan Sechium edule, and provided a theoretical basis for the selection and breeding of high-quality varieties of Chaylte Vine.