Insulin-mimic components in acer truncatum leaves: Bio-guided isolation, annual variance profiling and regulating pathway investigated by omics

Abstract

Insulin mimic can promote transporting glucose to muscle tissue and accelerate glucose consumption. It is commonly occurring in many functional foods or traditional medicines. Antidiabetes molecules from food sources are highly safe and suitable for long-term use to prevent early diabetes. The leaves of Acer truncatum was found glucose uptake promotion in our phenotypic screening. However, its bioactive components and mechanism are still unclear. We collected leaves from trees of different ages (2, 3, 4, 7 and 11 years old) and profiled the ingredients by LC-MS/MS. The essential active component (myricitrin) was acquired following bio-guide on a whole organism Zebrafish (Danio rerio). Its content in the leaves was not affected by tree ages. Therefore, myricitrin can serve as a quality mark for functional foods derived from A. truncatum leaves. The transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis in Zebrafish explored the differentially expressed genes and metabolites. Based on joint-pathway enrichment and qRT-PCR verification, the critical bioactive component myricitrin was found to affect toll-like receptors signaling pathways to regulate glucose uptake. Our findings disclosed a bioactive marker (myricitrin) in A. truncatum leaves and explored its regulation mechanism, which rationalized the anti-diabetes function of the herbal food.