Analysis of organic acids of tricarboxylic acid cycle in plants using GC-MS, and system modeling

Abstract

Background: Leaves of 15 plant species were collected from the catchment areas of the river Beas, Punjab, India, and analyzed for organic acids of tricarboxylic acid cycle, viz., citric acid (CA), succinic acid (SA), fumaric acid (FmA), and malic acid (MA). Methods: Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to determine the content of organic acids in the leaves of plant species. Two microliters of plant sample was injected into the GC-MS, and the concentration of organic acids was quantified using standard curve. Results: Average concentrations of these acids in the leaves of plants studied were 4.79, 0.98, 0.54, and 8.36 mg/g dw, respectively. The maximum contents of these acids were found in the leaves of Chenopodium album (CA = 6.42 mg/g dw), Argemone mexicana (SA = 1.27 and FmA = 0.73 mg/g dw), and Rumex dentatus (MA = 18.0 mg/g dw). Factor analysis revealed mainly two underlying factors for organic acids: Factor-1 having maximum loadings on SA and FmA and Factor-2 had maximum loadings on CA and MA. Multiple linear regression analysis of MA on other acids showed that CA and SA have positive regressions, whereas FmA has a negative regression on MA. In artificial neural network analysis, correlation between the target and output values of MA was found to be highly significant. System transfer coefficients were calculated from simulation graphs fitted to the mean values of different organic acids by using difference equations. Conclusions: From the present study, it was found that citric acid has a maximum direct effect on the malic acid as compared to succinic and fumaric acids as revealed by path analysis. System modeling revealed that the rate of utilization of malic acid is about 9%. The present study describes a new system simulation technique in which a pathway comprising of linear transformation of biochemical constituents may be characterized in terms of its rate transfer coefficients.

Characterization of Phytochemical Components of Crocus sativus Leaves: A New Attractive By-Product

“…In a TCA cycle, citric acid and malic acid are generally the most accumulated organic acids in plants [52]; at the same time, Crocus leaves have an increased content of malic acid during acclimatization to the low temperature [53,54] of Ukraine in the postharvest period. In addition, the path analysis of the effects of different acids on malic acid content revealed that citric acid has a maximum direct effect on malic acid [55]. Furthermore, 3,3-dimethylacrylic acid, 4-hydroxybutanoic acid, and lactic acid were found in amounts of 187 µg/g, 162 µg/g, and 98 µg/g, respectively.…”

Borage, camellia, centaurea and pansies: Nutritional, fatty acids, free sugars, vitamin E, carotenoids and organic acids characterization

“…The organic acids in edible flowers were estimated by gas chromatography, after methylation, following the methods reported by Sharma et al (2016) and Kumar, Sharma, Bhardwaj, and Thukral (2017), using a column HP-5MS (30 m × 0.25 mm ID × 0.25 μm thickness ultra-inert capillary column, Agilent Technologies) instead of the DB-5 ms column mentioned by the authors. Individual standards of citric, levulinic, fumaric, succinic, malic, salicylic, hydroxycinnamic, malonic, oxalic, tartaric, and benzoic acids, were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, USA), and were derivatized under sample conditions.…”

“…Individual standards of citric, levulinic, fumaric, succinic, malic, salicylic, hydroxycinnamic, malonic, oxalic, tartaric, and benzoic acids, were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, USA), and were derivatized under sample conditions. Quantification was based on individual calibration curves, using specific m/z for each compound, as detailed in Kumar et al (2017).…”

Phytochemical characterization of Borago officinalis L. and Centaurea cyanus L. during flower development

“…The organic acids in the edible flowers were determined by gas chromatography, after methylation, following the procedure described by Sharma et al (2016) and Kumar, Sharma, Bhardwaj, and Thukral (2017), with minor modifications. The analytical column used was a HP-5MS (30 m × 0.25 mm i.d.…”

“…Individual standards of citric, levulinic, fumaric, succinic, malic, salicylic, hydroxycinnamic, malonic, oxalic, tartaric and benzoic acids -all supplied by Sigma Aldrich (Germany) -were derivatized under sample conditions. Quantification was based on individual calibration curves, using specific m/z for each compound, as detailed in Kumar et al (2017).…”