Abstract
Abstract in English, French Macodes limii J.J. Wood & A.L. Lamb is a terrestrial jewel orchid native to Sabah, recognised for its sparkling golden-yellow venations, uniformly distributed on its leaves. Despite its high ornamental value, the exploration of the plant's medicinal potential remains ambiguous. The current study was conducted to gain a fundamental understanding of the metabolite composition and regulation in M. limii plants from two different growing environments: wild and in vitro cultivation, as well as to analyse their phytochemical contents and antioxidant activity. The metabolite profiling of the M . limii plant extracts through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis has tentatively identified compounds from various classes including sugars, carbohydrates, sugar alcohols, amino acids, organic acids, phenolic derivatives and lipid and lipid-like compounds. Subsequently, the multivariate statistical analysis confirmed the existence of significant metabolite variations across distinct growth environments. Notably, the leaf extract derived from wild-grown plants displayed the highest levels of total phenolic and flavonoid content, contributing significantly to its higher antioxidant activity as measured by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The discovery has offered a fundamental understanding of the metabolites in M. limii jewel orchids, indicating that in vitro regenerated plants may represent a viable alternative for further investigating their therapeutic potential, thus helping to alleviate the impact on wild populations. Macodes limii J.J. Wood & A.L. Lamb merupakan orkid jewel daratan yang berasal dari Sabah, terkenal dengan urat pada daunnya yang berwarna kuning keemasan berkilauan. Walaupun ia mempunyai nilai hiasan yang tinggi, namun, kajian terhadap potensi tumbuhan ini dalam perubatan masih terhad. Kajian ini dijalankan untuk mendapatkan pemahaman asas mengenai komposisi dan regulasi metabolit dalam tumbuhan M. limii daripada dua persekitaran pertumbuhan yang berbeza: pertumbuhan liar dan penanam secara in vitro, serta menganalisis kandungan fitokimia dan aktiviti antioksidan tumbuhan ini. Pemprofilan metabolit esktrak tumbuhan M. limii melalui analisis kromatografi gas-spektrometri jisim (GC-MS) dan kromatografi cecair-spektrometri jisim tandem (LC-MS/MS) secara tentatif telah mengenal pasti sebatian daripada pelbagai kelas termasuk gula, karbohidrat, gula alkohol, asid amino, asid organik, derivatif fenolik dan sebatian lipid. Seterusnya, analisis statistik multivariat mengesahkan kewujudan variasi metabolit yang ketara pada persekitaran pertumbuhan yang berbeza. Terutamanya, ekstrak daun yang diambil daripada persekitaran liar menunjukkan paras kandungan fenolik dan flavonoid yang tertinggi, seterusnya menyumbang secara signifikan kepada aktiviti antioksidannya melalui cerakin 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). Penemuan ini telah memberikan pengetahuan asas mengenai metabolit dalam orkid jewel M. limii, di mana ia menunjukkan bahawa tumbuhan yang dipropagasi semula melalui kaedah in vitro berpotensi menjadi alternatif dalam kajian teraputik pada masa akan datang, sekali gus dapat membantu mengurangkan kesan ke atas populasi liar.