South African Journal of Botany· 2026Q2
Phenotypic, bioactive and metabolomic diversity among indigenous Southern African underutilised monkey orange (Strychnos spinosa Lam.) fruit accessions
- 0citations
- Q2SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Large pyriform monkey orange fruits (1103-1328 g) are rich in carotenoids (632.50 mg β-carotene/100 g) and lipids, while small purple fruits have higher acidity (1.20-1.83%) and phenolic content (3.72 mg GAE/g) with superior antioxidant activity (DPPH: 1.82 μmol TE/g).
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Key points
- Large pyriform fruits (1103-1328 g) show elevated carotenoids (632.50 mg β-carotene/100 g) and lipid-rich profiles.
- Small purple fruits have higher titratable acidity (1.20-1.83%) and phenolic content (3.72 mg GAE/g) with superior antioxidant activity (DPPH: 1.82 μmol TE/g).
- Fruit morphology captures only part of the underlying biochemical variation, making it insufficient for selecting chemically distinct germplasm.
- Untargeted metabolomics identified accession-dependent chemical variation, including lipid-like and terpenoid-like ions.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Strychnos spinosa Lam. is an indigenous African fruit tree with considerable phenotypic diversity, yet the extent to which visible fruit morphotypes correspond to biochemical and metabolic variation remains poorly resolved. This study integrated fruit morphology, physicochemical traits, spectrophotometric bioactive-compound assays, antioxidant capacity and untargeted LC-QTOF-MS profiling across 32 accessions collected in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Large pyriform fruits (fresh weight: 1103-1328 g) exhibited elevated carotenoid content (632.50 mg β-carotene/100 g) and lipid-rich metabolite profiles dominated by phosphatidylcholines. Small roundish purple fruits demonstrated higher titratable acidity (1.20-1.83%) and phenolic content (3.72 mg GAE/g), correlating with superior antioxidant activity (DPPH: 1.82 μmol TE/g; positive correlation with TPC, r = 0.65 ). Smooth green fruits displayed balanced total soluble solids (14-16 °Brix) and titratable acidity (1.50-1.80%) with diverse metabolite clusters. Multivariate analysis showed that external morphotype captured only part of the underlying biochemical variation, indicating that morphology alone is insufficient for selecting chemically distinct germplasm. Untargeted metabolomics further resolved accession-dependent chemical variation and highlighted lipid-like, terpenoid-like and other discriminatory ions; structural assignments are treated as putative pending confirmation with reference standards and diagnostic MS/MS evidence. Five accessions (GvRR-GRO, GRP-dGEO, PRxCP-GEF, PRR-dGEF and GSR-dGRF) were identified as contrasting candidates for subsequent validation of digestive stability and bioaccessibility. These findings expand knowledge of intraspecific diversity in S. spinosa and provide an evidence base for germplasm characterization, conservation, selection and future domestication of this underutilized southern African fruit tree.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. South African Journal of Botany, 2026 · DOI ↗
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ForestryAgricultural and Biological Sciences