투고논문

Abstract Licorice (Glycyrrhiza spp.) is an important medicinal plant, and a new hybrid cultivar, Wongam (G. korshinskyi), has recently been developed in Korea through interspecific hybridization between G. uralensis and G. glabra. In this study, ¹H NMR based metabolomic approach was employed to compare the primary metabolite profiles of Wongam and G. uralensis. A total of 33 primary metabolites, including sugars, organic acids, and amino acids, were identified and quantified. Multivariate statistical analyses revealed clear metabolic discrimination between the two cultivars. In particular, sucrose, malate, and trigonelline were more abundant in G. uralensis, whereas lactate, acetate, and several amino acid–related metabolites were present at higher levels in Wongam, indicating their potential as discriminative markers for licorice differentiation. These findings provide fundamental insight into the primary metabolic characteristics of licorice and establish a basis for future studies on quality evaluation and breeding improvement.

Keywords Licorice (Glycyrrhiza spp.), Wongam, ¹H NMR, Metabolomics, Primary metabolites

* Address correspondence to: Dahye Yoon, Department of Herbal Crop Research, National institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, RDA, Eumseong 27709, Republic of Korea, Tel: 82-43-871-5789; Fax: 82-43-871-5759; E-mail: dahyeyoon@korea.kr