Origin traceability is critical for food safety, and the strontium isotope ratio (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) has been widely used in this field due to its accuracy and stability. Establishing a regional baseline map of bioavailable ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr is essential for precise traceability. However, the existing large-scale bioavailable Sr isotope map of China has low spatial resolution and uses water as the main sample, making it unsuitable for plant-derived food traceability. This study focused on Anhui, a major agricultural province in China. Based on geological lithology distribution, 149 plant samples were collected across Anhui to construct a fine-scale bioavailable ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr map. The map enabled traceability of Anhui’s characteristic plant-derived foods, such as Cha (Camellia sinensis), Mugua (Chaenomeles speciosa), Fengdan (Paeonia ostii), Jiegeng (Platycodon grandiflorum), and Duohua Huangjing (Polygonatum cyrtonema). It provides a basis for food origin traceability in Anhui and supports market supervision of China’s geographical indication (GI) products.

Fallopia multiflora (Thunb.) Harald. is a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine that is rich in chemical constituents. Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) is the first key enzyme in the phenylalanine pathway, catalyzing the deamination of L-phenylalanine to generate trans-cinnamic acid. Three PALs (FmPAL1, FmPAL2, and FmPAL3) were cloned and validated from F. multiflora for the first time, demonstrated the presence of a multigene family of PALs in F. multiflora. The predicted complete open reading frames (ORFs) of FmPAL1, FmPAL2, and FmPAL3 are 2118bp, 2109bp and 2160bp, encoding 705, 702 and 719 amino acids, respectively. The phylogenetic results indicated that FmPALs have significant evolutionary relatedness with the known PALs from dicotyledons. To further confirm their function, the three FmPALs were cloned into the pET-28a vector and expressed in Escherichia coli TransBL21 (DE3). The enzymatic activities of the FmPALs recombinant proteins were assayed and showed that FmPALs have a role in the d-catalyzed conversion of L-phenylalanine to trans-cinnamic acid. All three FmPALs showed tissue-specific expression. The expression of FmPAL1 and FmPAL2 genes were highest in stems and lowest in roots. Differently, the expression of FmPAL3 gene was highest in leaves and lowest in roots.