Quantitative Evaluation of 4-Coumarate: CoA Ligase (4CL) Activity and Correlated Chemical Constituents in Four Plant Materials by Chromatographic Analysis

AimTo investigate the activity of 4-coumarate: coenzyme A ligase (4CL) respectively extracted from potato, soybean plantule, towel gourd and wheat seedlings, simultaneously by the quantifications of 4-coumaroyl-coenzyme A, and to explore the correlations of 4CL activity with the total lignins and flavonoids contents in the four plants.MethodsParallel synthesizing instrument was used to achieve the optimal conditions. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with diode array detector (DAD), evaporative light-scattering detector (ELSD) and HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS was applied to detect 4-coumaroyl-coenzyme A, while the internal standard method was used in quantification analysis. Total lignins, flavonoids and protein contents of these four plants were quantified using UV-VIS spectrophotometry.Results4CL specific activity sequence in the four plants was as follows: potato, plantule of soybean, towel gourd and seedlings of wheat. The quantity of 4-coumaroyl-CoA was 0.552, 0.729, 0.946 and 14.456 mg·g−1, accordingly. It is suggested that 4CL activity was positively correlated with total flavonoids contents, while negatively correlated with total lignins contents in the four plants.ConclusionA rapid, efficient and reliable method was established for the comprehensive evaluated of 4-coumaroyl-CoA and the correlations between 4CL activity with the total lignins and flavonoids contents in the four plants.