Differentiation of European and Chinese Truffle (Tuber sp.) Species by Means of Sterol Fingerprints

Abstract

The increasing demand of valuable truffles (Tuber sp.) has prompted new areas of naturally growing truffles entering the market. Hence, the identification of valueless Tuber species is an important task to prevent food fraud. Here, we show that sterol patterns are suited to differentiate five Tuber species (Tuber magnatum, Tuber melanosporum, Tuber aestivum, Tuber albidum, and Tuber indicum varieties) from each other. Next to the known main sterols of Tuber, ergosterol and brassicasterol, occurrence of minor sterols in differing shares resulted in characteristic fingerprints in the five Tuber species, irrespective of the country of origin. A total of 27 sterols were evaluated, and we proposed assignment criteria of main sterol relations as well as eight distinct biomarkers within the minor compounds for the differentiation of European and Chinese truffles.

Quantitation of 20 Phytosterols in 34 Different Accessions of Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa)

“… Interestingly, Fanali et al did not detect the six sterols determined in this study, but additionally detected four minor sterols, which were in our database [i.e., lathosterol (RI FAP 2180), episterol (RI FAP 2277), parkeol (RI FAP 2249), and gramisterol (RI FAP 2350)], but not detectable in the present samples. This could indicate that some quinoa accessions could differ in the minor sterol patterns, similarly to findings with truffles . However, in the present study, virtually all sterols were detected in all samples.…”

“…All other sterols (C 28 , C 30 , and C 31 ) were semiquantitated using the calibration curve of silylated stigmasterol. The method precision was determined for the contents of each sterol as was previously described …”

“…In the long term, minor sterols are particularly interesting because the sterol pattern can be linked with biosynthetic pathways. For instance, minor sterols enabled the distinction of five truffle species …”

“…For instance, minor sterols enabled the distinction of five truffle species. 16 In this study, we thus aimed to determine the detailed sterol pattern in 34 different types of quinoa. For this purpose, we applied a recently developed gas chromatography with mass spectrometry method operated in selected ion monitoring mode (GC/MS-SIM) including a retention index system based on fatty acid pyrrolidines (RI FAP ).…”

Food authentication: truffle species classification by non-targeted lipidomics analyses using mass spectrometry assisted by ion mobility separation

“…Sommer et al have recently published on almost the same set of samples that different truffle species have different sterol fingerprints suitable for authentication. 48,49 In yeast and fungi, ergosterol is one of the most abundant sterols. 50 It is therefore obvious that a marker substance from this substance class could be identified in this study, too.…”