Metabolic Profiling Approach To Explore Compounds Related to the Umami Intensity of Soy Sauce

A metabolic
profiling approach was employed to explore the compounds
that affect the intensity of umami taste in soy sauce. Twenty-five
kinds of soy sauces were analyzed using GC-MS and LC-MS, wherein measurement
data for 427 compounds were obtained. The umami taste intensity of
each soy sauce sample was also quantitated by sensory evaluation and
a projection to latent structure (PLS) regression analysis was conducted
using the compounds’ measurements and umami taste intensity
data. Variable importance for the projection (VIP) value obtained
via PLS was used for the estimation of the relevance for umami taste
intensity. N-(1-Deoxyfructos-1-yl)­glutamic acid (Fru-Glu)
had the highest VIP value, and addition of Fru-Glu to soy sauce increased
umami taste intensity better than glutamic acid at the same concentration
as confirmed by sensory evaluation. This study showed that the combination
of metabolic profiling approach and sensory evaluation can be used
effectively to determine compounds related to taste.

本研究采用代谢轮廓分析（metabolic profiling）方法，探究影响酱油鲜味强度的化合物。研究共选取25种酱油样品，通过气相色谱-质谱联用（GC-MS）与液相色谱-质谱联用（LC-MS）进行检测，共获得427种化合物的检测数据。同时，通过感官评定对每份酱油样品的鲜味强度进行定量分析，并以各化合物的检测数据与鲜味强度数据为基础，开展潜结构投影（projection to latent structure，PLS）回归分析。通过PLS回归得到的投影变量重要性（variable importance for the projection，VIP）值被用于评估各化合物与鲜味强度的相关性。其中，N-(1-脱氧果糖-1-基)谷氨酸（Fru-Glu）的VIP值最高；感官评定实验证实，在相同浓度下，向酱油中添加Fru-Glu对鲜味强度的提升效果优于谷氨酸。本研究表明，将代谢轮廓分析与感官评定相结合，可有效筛选出与风味相关的化合物。