Mass spectrometry identification of the liquor contained in the plum vase excavated from Jurou Li\u2019s Grave of the Jin Dynasty (1115\u20131234 CE) in Xi\u2019an, Shannxi, China

Zhanyun Zhu,Yifei Miao,Chunlei Yu,Junchang Yang,Zhiyong Lu

doi:10.1186/s40494-018-0210-5

Zhanyun Zhu, Yifei Miao + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-018-0210-5

Copy DOI

Abstract

In order to accurately identify the ancient liquid contained in the plum vase excavated from Jurou Li’s Grave of the Jin Dynasty (1115–1234 CE) in Xi’an, mass spectrometry was applied to determine the amino acid sequences of the residual proteins extracted from the liquid sample. The sequences were searched against a standard protein sequence database. The proteins extracted was identified as glycosyltransferase from Sorghum bicolor, calcium-dependent protein kinase 2 from Wickerhamomyces ciferrii, and cytochrome b-c1 complex subunit Rieske from Nadsonia fulvescens. These findings indicate that the extremely degraded liquid in the plum vase was made from the cereal of sorghum by alcoholic fermentation of Wickerhamomyces ciferrii and Nadsonia fulvescens, providing direct evidence for liquor in the Jin Dynasty.

Highlights

In February 2014, an undisturbed grave with one brick chamber was excavated by Shannxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology [1]
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, Chinese liquor is defined as fermented beverage with cereals as raw materials
Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), iodoacetamide, ammonium bicarbonate, and formic acid were supplied by Sigma-Aldrich (USA)

Summary

Introduction

The most important object among them is a plum vase which has been sealed completely, containing transparent liquid (see Fig. 1). Plum vase is a general designation of ancient Chinese porcelain with the features of small rim, short neck, broad shoulder, thin base, ringed foot. It is named as the rim is so small that only plum twigs could be inserted in,. The information about both raw material and fermentation is required to determine whether an ancient liquid is liquor or not. The residual peptides from ancient liquid in the plum vase excavated from Jurou Li’s Grave was focused on, as the analyses of small molecules and starch grain did not yield satisfactory results. Applied SDS-PAGE to isolate possible proteins and identified them by means of mass spectrometry

Materials and methods

Results and discussion

Conclusions