Abstract
Fruit aromas are composed of a complex mixture of volatile organic compounds, which are essential attributes associated with the overall flavor and consumer preference. Muscadine grape (MG; Vitis rotundifolia Michx.) is an aroma-dense fruit crop. However, there is very scarce information on its volatile profiles. In this study, the volatile constituents of five newly introduced MG cultivars, including Alachua, Carlos, Fry, Granny Val, and Noble, were profiled using headspace solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC/MS) combined with multivariate statistical analysis. A total of 44 compounds, including esters, aldehydes, alcohols, fatty acids, terpenes, ketones, and furan, were identified and relatively quantified. Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) evidently discriminated against the five MG cultivars based on their volatile profiles. The specific volatiles that contributed the most to this discrimination were highlighted. Geraniol and cinnamyl alcohol were demonstrated to be essential for characterizing the Alachua MG cultivar, whereas ethyl trans-2-butenoate and propyl acetate were shown to be important compounds to characterize the Noble MG cultivar. The results further showed that 2-Ethyl-1-hexanol, (Z)-3-hexenal, and (E)-2-hexenol were closely related to Carlos, Fry, and Granny Val cultivars, respectively. This investigation is the first in-depth exploration of the volatile profiles of the aroma-dense muscadine grape, which is essential for future genetic or biotechnological improvements to attain a cultivar with the desired flavor.
Highlights
Grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) are among the most economically important and the earliest domesticated fruit crops throughout the world (Reisch et al, 2012; Ramos-Madrigal et al, 2019)
Headspace-SPME combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis and the comparison of mass spectra with the NIST17 library and the available authentic standards resulted in the identification of 44 metabolites in the five Muscadine grape (MG) cultivars, whose chromatographic profiles are shown in Supplementary Figure 1
These metabolites include eight esters, ten aldehydes, twelve alcohols, six fatty acids, five terpenes, two ketones, and one furan based on their chemical nature (Table 1)
Summary
Grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) are among the most economically important and the earliest domesticated fruit crops throughout the world (Reisch et al, 2012; Ramos-Madrigal et al, 2019). Indigenous to the warm and humid climate of the southeastern United States, MG was the first American grape species to be cultivated (Olien, 1990) and has been cultivated for more than 400 years (Stanley, 1997; Conner, 2009). It can be found growing naturally from Delaware to Central Florida state, i.e., south-north distribution, and from Texas and Oklahoma to the eastern coastal plain, i.e., east-west span, in the United States, along the Mississippi River to Missouri and near the Appalachian Mountains from the east and west (Olien, 1990)
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