{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,10]],"date-time":"2026-08-10T04:30:11Z","timestamp":1786336211459,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,5]],"date-time":"2026-08-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785888000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["82274055"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["82274055"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["82274055"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["82274055"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Basic Research Program of Jiangsu","award":["BK20250766"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BK20250766"]}]},{"name":"Open Project of Chinese Materia Medica First-Class Discipline of Nanjing University of Chinese","award":["ZYXYL2024-002"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ZYXYL2024-002"]}]},{"name":"Wu Qinan National TCM Herbalist Heritage Workshop Research Grant","award":["2025"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025"]}]},{"name":"Jiangsu Provincial Drug Administration Scientific Research Program","award":["202465"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["202465"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Plants"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Phenolic acids and flavonoids are major bioactive constituents of Sparganium stoloniferum tubers (SL), yet their spatial organization within this medicinal organ remains insufficiently characterized, limiting understanding of how anatomical structure relates to metabolite distribution. To address this, we integrated mass spectrometry imaging (MSI), non-targeted LC\u2013MS and targeted LC\u2013MS\/MS metabolomics, and reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT\u2013qPCR) analysis to characterize the spatial patterns of phenylpropanoid- and auxin-related metabolites and selected transcripts in SL. MSI and non-targeted LC\u2013MS profiling showed that phenylpropanoid- and flavonoid-related metabolites were preferentially accumulated in the peripheral cortex rather than in the stele, although the stele constitutes the dominant internal tissue of the tuber. Targeted LC\u2013MS\/MS further confirmed that representative hydroxycinnamic acids and caffeoylquinic acid derivatives were enriched in the cortex and, for most validated metabolites, in the cell wall-enriched fraction. Notably, spatial metabolomic profiling also revealed a contrasting stele-biased distribution of indole-related metabolites, including indole-3-acetamide-related features detected by MSI and non-targeted LC\u2013MS and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) enrichment validated by targeted LC\u2013MS\/MS. RT\u2013qPCR analysis showed that phenylpropanoid biosynthetic genes were generally more highly expressed in the cortex and cell wall-enriched fraction, whereas auxin-related genes showed higher expression in the stele. Together, these results show cortex-biased phenylpropanoid accumulation, preferential association of most validated phenylpropanoid-related metabolites with the cell wall-enriched fraction, and stele-associated IAA accumulation and auxin-related transcript expression. This study provides a spatial framework for understanding metabolite partitioning in medicinal aquatic storage organs and highlights the importance of integrating anatomical, metabolomic, and gene expression information in medicinal plant research.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/plants15152402","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,5]],"date-time":"2026-08-05T16:48:08Z","timestamp":1785948488000},"page":"2402","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Spatial Partitioning of Phenylpropanoid- and Auxin-Related Metabolites in Sparganium stoloniferum Tubers"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0543-1091","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mengru","family":"Sang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"National Key Laboratory on Technologies for Chinese Medicine Pharmaceutical Process Control and Intelligent Manufacture, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China"},{"name":"Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China"},{"name":"School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qinan","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nanjing Institute for Food and Drug Control, Nanjing 211198, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ying","family":"Dong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zheng","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jingjie","family":"Dang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Siyi","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chenyan","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qinan","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Key Laboratory on Technologies for Chinese Medicine Pharmaceutical Process Control and Intelligent Manufacture, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China"},{"name":"Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China"},{"name":"School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6769","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules17066769","article-title":"Response Surface Optimized Ultrasonic-Assisted Extraction of Flavonoids from Sparganii Rhizoma and Evaluation of Their in Vitro Antioxidant Activities","volume":"17","author":"Wang","year":"2012","journal-title":"Molecules"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"223","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jep.2015.05.038","article-title":"Prescription Patterns of Chinese Herbal Products for Patients with Uterine Fibroid in Taiwan: A Nationwide Population-Based Study","volume":"171","author":"Yen","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. 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