Comparative metabolomics in vanilla pod and vanilla bean revealing the biosynthesis of vanillin during the curing process of vanilla

Fenglin Gu,Yiming Fang,Yonggan Chen,Lehe Tan,Yinghua Hong

doi:10.1186/s13568-017-0413-2

Fenglin Gu, Yiming Fang + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13568-017-0413-2

Copy DOI

Abstract

High-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) was used for comprehensive metabolomic fingerprinting of vanilla fruits prepared from the curing process. In this study, the metabolic changes of vanilla pods and vanilla beans were characterized using MS-based metabolomics to elucidate the biosynthesis of vanillin. The vanilla pods were significantly different from vanilla beans. Seven pathways of vanillin biosynthesis were constructed, namely, glucovanillin, glucose, cresol, capsaicin, vanillyl alcohol, tyrosine, and phenylalanine pathways. Investigations demonstrated that glucose, cresol, capsaicin, and vanillyl alcohol pathway were detected in a wide range of distribution in microbial metabolism. Thus, microorganisms might have participated in vanillin biosynthesis during vanilla curing. Furthermore, the ion strength of glucovanillin was stable, which indicated that glucovanillin only participated in the vanillin biosynthesis during the curing of vanilla.

Highlights

Vanilla is a tropical orchid, which originated in Mexico (Lubinsky et al 2008)
Metabolic profiles of vanilla The extracts of vanilla samples were analyzed via the liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) technique, allowing the analyses of a wide range of untargeted compounds
Various biochemical and chemical reactions, such as esterification, etherification, and oxidative degradation, take place during this period to produce volatile compounds (Uzio and Derbesy 1989). The variations, especially those relating to the metabolism of vanilla fruits, still remain poorly constrained (Palama et al 2009, 2011)

Summary

Introduction

Vanilla is a tropical orchid, which originated in Mexico (Lubinsky et al 2008). It is one of the most important and popular aromatic compound used in food, beverages, and cosmetics (Kaur and Chakraborty 2013; Korthou and Verpoorte 2007). The fruit of a fully grown and mature vanilla is called vanilla pod. But develop a characteristic aroma during the curing process. Traditional curing process generally comprises four steps, namely killing, sweating, drying, and conditioning. Vanilla bean refers to the vanilla pod after the curing process (Frenkel et al 2011; Mariezcurrena et al 2008; Sreedhar et al 2009)

Methods

Results

Conclusion