Integrated Strategy Drives Direct Infusion–Tandem Mass Spectrometry as an Eligible Tool for Shotgun Pseudo-Targeted Metabolomics of Medicinal Plants

Direct infusion (DI) has an extraordinary high-throughput advantage. Pseudo-targeted metabolomics (PTM) has been demonstrated integrating the merits of both nontargeted and targeted metabolomics. Herein, we attempted to implant DI into the PTM concept to configure a new strategy allowing shotgun PTM. First, a versatile MS/MSALL program was applied to acquire MS1 and MS2 spectra. Second, online energy-resolved MS (online ER-MS) was conducted to obtain breakdown graph as well as optimal collision energy (OCE) for each ion transition paired by precursor ion and the dominant product ion. Third, selected reaction monitoring (SRM) was responsible to output a quantitative dataset with a constant length. Moreover, breakdown graph also served as orthogonal structural evidence when matching MS2 spectra between DI–MS/MS and an in-house library to strengthen structural annotation confidence. To evaluate and illustrate the utility of the new strategy toward shotgun PTM of medicinal plants, in-depth chemome comparison was conducted within three Cistanche species, all of which are edible medicinal plants and playing essential roles for turning the deserts into the oases. A total of 185 variables participated in the quantitative measurement program. Each diagnostic ion pair was featured with an OCE. Significant species differences occurred, and echinacoside, acteoside, isoacteoside, 2′-acetyl-acteoside, tubuloside B, mannitol, sucrose, betaine, malate, as well as choline were found to be confirmative chemical markers offering primary contributions toward the species discrimination. After cross-validation with LC–MS/MS, DI–MS/MS fortified with the new strategy is an eligible tool for shotgun PTM, beyond Cistanche plants.