Taxus species have attracted much attention for their potency in cancer treatment. However, investigating the bioactivities of Taxus species is a complex task, due to their diversity, slow growth, and endangered state. The most important Taxus species in China are Taxus chinensis (T. chinensis), Taxus cuspidata (T. cuspidata), and Taxus × media (T. media), which mainly grow in the northeastern region. This article probes deep into the differences among the leaves of T. chinensis, T. cuspidata, and T. media, with the aid of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Through GC-MS, 162 compounds were detected in the samples and found to contain 35 bioactive metabolites. On this basis, 20 metabolites with significant bioactivities (antibiotic, antioxidant, anticancer, and antiaging effects) were identified via unsupervised learning of principal component analysis and supervised learning of partial least squares-discriminant analysis. The results show that T. media has the most prominent antibiotic, antioxidant, and anticancer effects, while T. cuspidata has the most diverse and abundant metabolites that slow down aging.

Coexisting salt and alkaline stresses seriously threaten plant survival. Most studies have focused on halophytes; however, knowledge on how plants defend against saline–alkali stress is limited. This study investigated the role of Taraxacum mongolicum in a Puccinellia tenuiflora community under environmental saline–alkali stress to analyse the response of elements and metabolites in T. mongolicum, using P. tenuiflora as a control. The results show that the macroelements Ca and Mg are significantly accumulated in the aboveground parts (particularly in the stem) of T. mongolicum. Microelements B and Mo are also accumulated in T. mongolicum. Microelement B can adjust the transformation of sugars, and Mo contributes to the improvement in nitrogen metabolism. Furthermore, the metabolomic results demonstrate that T. mongolicum leads to decreased sugar accumulation and increased amounts of amino acids and organic acids to help plants resist saline–alkali stress. The resource allocation of carbon (sugar) and nitrogen (amino acids) results in the accumulation of only a few phenolic metabolites (i.e., petunidin, chlorogenic acid, and quercetin-3-O-rhamnoside) in T. mongolicum. These phenolic metabolites help to scavenge excess reactive oxygen species. Our study primarily helps in understanding the contribution of T. mongolicum in P. tenuiflora communities on coping with saline–alkali stress.

Saline–alkaline stress is a critical environmental issue that limits plant growth and crop production. With the expansion of salinized land, investigating the response mechanisms of plants to salt–alkali stress is crucial. Integrated ionomic and metabolomic analyses were employed to investigate the response mechanisms of Kochia scoparia in our studies. Compared with the halophyte Suaeda salsa, K. scoparia exhibits distinct ionic and metabolic strategies for coping with saline–alkaline stress. Ca, Mg, and B were significantly accumulated in K. scoparia to alleviate ion toxicity and oxidative damage and to maintain cellular stability at the ionic element level. Sugars, alcohols, esters, and phenolic compounds were found to play key roles in resisting saline–alkaline stress at the metabolic level. Among these, sugars, alcohols, and esters were mainly involved in mitigating salt stress. Targeted metabolomic analysis indicated that certain phenolic compounds—namely C6C1-compounds (p-hydroxybenzoic, gallic, vanillic, salicylic, and syringic acids), C6C3 (caffeic acid, p-coumaric, p-hydroxycinnamic, cinnamic, and ferulic acids), and C6C3C6 (naringenin, quercetin, genistein, petunidin, and luteolin)—were significantly accumulated in K. scoparia. These compounds help mitigate saline–alkaline stress by enhancing reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging, modulating signaling pathways, reprogramming the osmoprotectant metabolism, and remodeling cell wall defense. This study elucidates the advantages and mechanistic of K. scoparia’s tolerance to saline–alkaline stress, providing a theoretical foundation for the repair and utilization of saline–alkaline soils.