Analysis of Primary Metabolites in Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) Varieties Correlated with Antioxidant Activity and Taste Attributes by Metabolic Profiling

Abstract

Brassica vegetables, such as cabbage, have many health benefits arising from their antioxidant and anticancer properties. These properties are endowed by the metabolite composition of the plant, and it is therefore important to elucidate the metabolic profile and associated activities in this genus. This study objectively evaluated the characteristics of cabbage varieties using metabolic profiling to identify the primary metabolic components that correlate with antioxidant activity and taste attributes. GC-MS analysis was used to identify the primary metabolites. Antioxidant activity was measured by oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) scavenging assays, and an electronic tongue was used to quantitate nine taste attributes. Orthogonal projections to latent structures (OPLS) using SIMCA 14 correlated the metabolite components with the taste and antioxidant characteristics. We identified 4-aminobutyric acid, fructose 1-phosphate, adipic acid, 5-oxoproline, N-acetylglycine, O-phosphoethanolamine, and homovanillic acid as important determinants of DPPH scavenging activity and umami, sourness, acidic bitterness, irritant and saltiness, bitterness, astringency, and richness, respectively. These metabolites represent markers indicating breed differences and contribute to differential cabbage functionality. These studies could be extended to measure additional metabolites, as well as to understand the role of growth conditions on the metabolic profile and health benefits of plants.

Metabolic characteristics of taste differences under the soil and hydroponic cultures of sweet potato leaves by using non-targeted metabolomics

“…Another major group of sub-stances that determine taste is secondary metabolites, including flavonoids, phenolics, and alkaloids. They are the main source of bitterness and astringency (Mabuchi et al, 2019;Peterson and Dwyer, 1998;Streit et al, 2007). Our results in agreement with these above studies.…”

“…Metabolites are essential components in plants, and they can be classified as carbohydrates, organic and amino acids, vitamins, hormones, flavonoids, phenolics, and glucosinolates (Hounsome et al, 2008;Mabuchi et al, 2019). Some of these metabolites can determine the taste of leafy vegetables.…”

“…Some of these metabolites can determine the taste of leafy vegetables. Free amino acids can provide a variety of taste characteristics in leafy vegetables, such as glycine and alanine are sweetness, valine, tryptophan, and leucine are bitterness, and aspartic acid and glutamate have a sour taste (Ardö, 2006;Hounsome et al, 2008;Mabuchi et al, 2019;Toko, 2000). Another major group of sub-stances that determine taste is secondary metabolites, including flavonoids, phenolics, and alkaloids.…”

Identification of antioxidant bioactive compounds as potential functional food ingredient from kebar grass (Biophytum petersianum) by metabolomic approach

“…OPLS method was used to evaluate the relationship between X Matrix and Y Matrix and obtaining one important variable for X Matrix which correlated with Y Matrix. OPLS analysis model was considered to be have good quantitative and prediction performance if R 2 Y ≥ 0.65 and Q 2 Y ≥ 0.50 (Eriksson et al, 2013;Mabuchi et al, 2019). The validity of the OPLS model chosen sample was assessed by CV-Score vale and accurate assessment of the OPLS model was performed by permutation test.…”

“…This permutation test is determined to be the a good category because the intercept values were under value of the R 2 Y model (= 0.895) and Q 2 Y prediction (= 0.572) (see in Figure 1a). According to Mabuchi et al (2019) the permutation test response is deemed as good if the intercept value of the permutation test result was under the OPLS model and prediction intercepts.…”