# Autofluorescence and Metabotyping of Soybean Varieties Using Confocal Laser Microscopy and High-Resolution Mass Spectrometric Approaches

## TL;DR

This study uses advanced imaging and mass spectrometry to analyze the chemical composition and spatial distribution of compounds in different soybean varieties.

## Contribution

The novel use of confocal laser microscopy and tandem mass spectrometry to map and identify polyphenolic compounds in soybean varieties.

## Key findings

- Polyphenolic compounds, especially anthocyanins, are mainly localized in the seed coat of soybeans.
- Tandem mass spectrometry identified 69 polyphenolic compounds among 114 total compounds in soybean extracts.
- Laser confocal microscopy revealed detailed spatial arrangements of phenolic acids, flavonols, and anthocyanins.

## Abstract

This research examines a detailed metabolomic and comparative analysis of bioactive substances of soybean varieties: “Primorskaya-4”, “Primorskaya-86”, “Primorskaya-96”, “Locus”, “Sphere”, “Breeze”, “Namul”, and “Musson” by the laser confocal microscope CLSM 800 and the mass spectrometry of bioactive compounds by tandem mass spectrometry. The laser microscopy allowed us to clarify in detail the spatial arrangement of phenolic acids, flavonols, and anthocyanin contents in soybeans. Research has convincingly shown that the polyphenolic content of soybeans, and, in particular, the anthocyanins, are spatially localized mainly in the seed coat of soybeans. Tandem mass spectrometry was used to identify chemical constituents in soybean extracts. The results of initial studies revealed the presence of one hundred and fourteen compounds; sixty-nine of the target analytes were tentatively identified as compounds from polyphenol groups.