Comparative metabolic analysis and antioxidant properties of purple and white wheat grains: implications for developing functional wheat varieties

Objectives Pigmented wheat has garnered increased attention due to its elevated antioxidant activity. This study aimed to compare the metabolic components and antioxidant properties of purple and white wheat grains.Materials and Methods Metabolic analysis identified a total of 405 secondary metabolites using three extraction methods: free, acid, and alkali hydrolysis.Results The results revealed that, compared with white wheat, purple wheat exhibited significantly higher levels of total polyphenols, total flavonoids, and antioxidant activity. Notably, there were substantial variations in 90, 80, and 73 secondary metabolites between white and purple wheat under the respective extraction methods. The contents of hispidulin-8-C-(2MODIFIER LETTER PRIMEMODIFIER LETTER PRIME-O-glucosyl) glucoside, hispidulin-8-C-glucoside, diosmetin-6-C-glucoside, and scoparin decreased across all groups, while the contents of peonidin-3-O-glucoside, keracyanin, kuromanin cyanidin-3-O-glucoside, and cyanidin-3-O-(6MODIFIER LETTER PRIMEMODIFIER LETTER PRIME-O-malonyl) glucoside increased.Conclusions These findings suggest that pathways associated with anthocyanin, flavone, and flavonol biosynthesis were influenced. Furthermore, each extraction method revealed distinct secondary metabolites. Acid and alkali hydrolysis upregulated 16 and 3 metabolites in purple wheat, and 20 and 3 metabolites in white wheat, respectively. Acid and alkaline hydrolysis also identified indole-3-carboxylic acid, vanillic acid, pyridoxine, and other metabolites with antioxidant and antihypertensive effects in both white and purple wheat. This indicates that acid and alkaline hydrolysis can dissociate a greater variety and quantity of differential metabolites. These findings offer valuable insights for breeders seeking to develop wheat varieties with enhanced functional nutritional value.