Plant metabolomics: potential for practical operation

In the postgenomic era, metabolomics is expected to be the newest useful omics science for functional genomics. However, in plant science, the present metabolomics technology cannot be considered a universal tool to perfectly elucidate perturbations imposed on sample plants although this is desired by plant physiologists. Despite it being an immature technology, metabolomics has already been used as a powerful tool for precise phenotyping, particularly for industrial application. Metabolomics is the best technology for the analysis of large mutant or transgenic libraries of model experimental plants, such as Arabidopsis, rice, etc. Here, we review the applications and technical problems of metabolomics. We also suggest the potential of metabolomics for plant post-genomic science.     

代谢组学在食品质量安全领域的应用进展

食品质量安全是保障现代经济社会和谐稳定发展的基础与前提，目前，食源性致病微生物、兽药残留、转基因食品及掺假等问题均会造成或可能造成食品安全隐患。代谢组学作为新兴技术不断发展，通过研究生物体受外界干扰前后小分子代谢产物的变化，进而探究机体内代谢机制，适用于食品安全多种微量危害因子的鉴别和监测。此外，危害因子在食品分解过程中产生的代谢物可成为特定的潜在生物标志物，为致病菌作用机制和品质安全控制的研究提供参考。本文阐述靶向代谢组学和非靶向代谢组学，介绍代谢组学技术常用的数据采集和数理统计方法，总结代谢组学技术在食源性致病菌、兽药残留、转基因食品、生鲜食品品质和肉制品掺假等食品品质和安全领域的研究进展，并对多组学联用技术提出展望，以期推动该技术在食品质量安全领域更广泛的应用。     

Influence of Innovative Processing on γ‐Aminobutyric Acid (GABA) Contents in Plant Food Materials

Over the last several decades, γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) has attracted much attention due to its diverse physiological implications in plants, animals, and microorganisms. GABA naturally occurs in plant materials and its concentrations may vary considerably, from traces up to μmol/g (dry basis) depending on plant matrix, germination stage, and processing conditions, among other factors. However, due to its important biological activities, considerable interest has been shown by both food and pharmaceutical industries to improve its concentration in plants. Natural and conventional treatments such as mechanical and cold stimulation, anoxia, germination, enzyme treatment, adding exogenous glutamic acid (Glu) or gibberellins, and bacterial fermentation have been shown effective to increase the GABA concentration in several plant materials. However, some of these treatments can modify the nutritional, organoleptic, and/or functional properties of plants. Recent consumer demand for food products which are “healthy,” safe and, having added benefits (nutraceuticals/functional components) has led to explore new ways to improve the content of bioactive compounds while maintaining desirable organoleptic and physicochemical properties. Along this line, nonthermal processing technologies (such as high‐pressure processing, pulsed electric fields, and ultrasound, among others) have been shown as means to induce the biosynthesis and accumulation of GABA in plant foods; and the main findings so far reported are presented in this review. Moreover, the most novel tools for the identification of metabolic response in plant materials based on GABA analysis will be also described.     

代谢组学在食品科学中的应用进展

代谢组学分析主要集中于对小分子代谢物综合分析,是对代谢靶标分析、代谢轮廓分析以及代谢指纹分析的进一步深化和融合。传统的食品分析主要分析蛋白质、脂肪、碳水化合物等,通过代谢组学技术,可在一种食品中检测到成百上千种不同的化学成分,从而为食品的鉴别、安全、加工、营养研究等提供更强大的数据支撑。文章综述了代谢组学的分析技术、样品制备、数据分析方法,并介绍了代谢组学技术在食品营养、食品质量鉴别和食品风味研究方面的应用,旨在为食品代谢组学研究及应用提供参考。     

代谢组学技术在食品安全风险监测中的研究进展

代谢组学是一种基于高通量检测技术的大数据分析方法,广泛应用于药物研究、临床诊断、环境保护和植物育种等工作中。随着食品安全形势的不断变化发展,人们对食品质量的要求不断提高,在常规的符合性检验出现局限性的情况下,代谢组学技术显示出了巨大应用潜力,在食源性致病菌的检测、食品掺假及品质鉴别、食品产地溯源以及转基因食品安全等方面得到了广泛应用。组学技术具有高通量、高准确性、全景分析、技术灵活等特点,可以作为现行食品安全评价标准的有力补充,也为食品安全风险监测中疑难问题提供了新的思路和技术手段。本文主要介绍了代谢组学的概念、分类、研究平台和统计方法。重点阐述了代谢组学技术在食品安全风险监控中的应用,为后续相关领域内的进展情况及发展趋势提供参考。     

Metabolomics in quality formation and characterisation of tea products: a review

Tea is one of the biggest categories of modern non-alcoholic beverages with health benefits. Through different processes, tea products are divided into six main types: green tea, yellow tea, white tea, oolong tea, black tea and dark tea. Metabolomics is helpful for the comprehensive, accurate and rapid determination of tea metabolites in different types of tea products and tea processing materials. It has been widely applied in studying the relationship of tea metabolites and its quality. Therefore, it is necessary to summarise the application of metabolomics in tea. In this review, we described and summarised (1) the main metabolites of six types of tea and their implications on tea quality with emphasis on the content differences in the main metabolites in different types of tea; (2) the research on optimising the key processing steps of six types of tea based on metabolomics and the discussion of various new strategies for effectively improving their quality and (3) the advanced approach to characterise and distinguish different grades of tea products via metabolomics. The current review offers guidance for the improvement of tea quality by metabolomics and its potential challenges.     

代谢组学在发酵食品研究中的应用

由于发酵过程复杂,常规的研究手段难以探究影响发酵食品营养和风味的因素和机制。代谢组学技术作为一门新兴起的技术,可对生物体内所有代谢物进行定性定量分析,并寻找代谢物与目标物质变化的相对关系,十分适合研究食品发酵过程中底物、营养、风味等方面的变化机制。该文从代谢组学技术的主要分析方法（高效液相色谱法、液相色谱-质谱法、气相色谱-质谱法等）,以及其在发酵食品中的应用进展展开综述,为发酵食品的生产应用提供理论依据。     

代谢组学在食品发酵研究中的应用现状及展望

介绍代谢组学的概念、特性和技术平台.综述代谢组学在食品发酵研究中的应用现状,包括发酵菌种筛选、分类和鉴定,功能基因研究和代谢途径解析,发酵过程调控和工艺优化等多个方面.分析当前存在的问题,并对代谢组学在食品发酵研究中的发展前景作展望.     

基于气相色谱-质谱联用技术的代谢组学在农产品产地溯源中的应用

随着人们生活水平的提高,人们对于食品安全也提出了更高的要求。农产品产地溯源不仅能保证农产品的真实性、维护农产品市场的稳定,还是确保食品质量安全、保护消费者权益的必要手段。建立高效的食品溯源体系是保证食品质量安全的关键。气相色谱-质谱(gas chromatography-mass spectrometry,GC-MS)联用技术是代谢组学研究的重要技术之一,因其效率高、灵敏度高、稳定性强等优点,近年来被广泛应用于农产品产地溯源研究中。本文通过近5年来的主要文献分析,对GC-MS的代谢组学研究进展及其在谷物、肉制品、油类、果蔬类农产品产地溯源中的应用进行了全面的综述,并对今后农产品产地溯源的研究进行了展望。以期为我国农产品溯源体制的建立提供借鉴,推动GC-MS代谢组学技术在食品溯源中的应用。     

Early detection of food pathogens and food spoilage microorganisms: Application of metabolomics

BackgroundFood safety is a major issue, with a large number of people around the world suffering from illness due to the consumption of contaminated and unsafe food products. An early detection of food pathogens and spoilage microorganisms is an important step that can help to control a foodborne outbreak, thus avoiding the loss of a massive amount of food products.Scope and approachMetabolomics is generally a hypothesis generating tool that makes use of different analytical instruments to analyse as many metabolites as possible in a given biological sample. Metabolomics has already been successfully applied to different areas of food science. Here, I present metabolomics as a valuable tool for studying the metabolism of food pathogens and spoilage microorganisms.Key findings and conclusionsThe scientific area of metabolomics has improved tremendously over last decade. Due to the rapid development of instrumental platforms, it is now possible to analyse a wide range of metabolites present in food and produced by microorganisms. This approach has a high potential to determine biomarkers which can later be used for the development of early detection tools for food pathogens and spoilage microorganisms, thus ensuring a better management of food safety.     

发酵制品调控糖脂代谢性疾病作用机制的研究进展

发酵作为一种古老的食品加工技术,不仅能延长食品的保存时间,而且具有改变食品特性的功能。随着近代生物技术的发展,发酵制品的潜在健康价值逐渐显现,在防治糖脂代谢性疾病方面的效应也受到更多关注。该文从调节神经内分泌紊乱、胰岛素抵抗、氧化应激、代谢性炎症和肠道菌群失调5个方面阐述发酵制品对糖脂代谢性疾病的作用机制,评估其作为保健品或药剂的潜力,为今后将发酵制品用于防治糖脂代谢性疾病提供参考。     

小麦代谢组学技术及研究进展

代谢组学是继基因组学和蛋白质组学之后新发展的一门学科,真正反映在生物体内已经发生的生命活动,揭示生物体在特定时间、特定条件下的整体功能性状态,为生物体内在规律的研究提供信息,在植物学研究中得到广泛关注。本研究主要介绍了代谢组学常用的高通量检测技术(如核磁共振、气相色谱-质谱联用、超高压液相色谱-四极杆飞行时间质谱联用等)、数据分析方法、检索数据库等,对比了不同检测方法的优缺点。小麦作为世界上的主要的粮食作物之一,在代谢组学方面也有相关研究。本文重点概述了发芽小麦代谢组学的研究现状,通过分析代谢物及小麦理化性质,揭示了小麦萌发的主要能量来自糖酵解,同时增加有益活性成分,为了解在代谢水平上的谷物种子萌发的生化机制及代谢产物发生的系列变化提供了理论基础。     

代谢组学技术在植物源性食品研究中的应用研究进展

代谢组学以生物系统中的细胞在特定条件下所有小分子代谢物为研究对象,定性并定量描述生物内源性代谢物及其对内因和外因变化的应答规律。近年来代谢组学技术成为食品科学研究中不可或缺的工具,尤其是在以植物为原材料进行加工或直接食用的植物源性食品中,代谢组学技术广泛用于检测不易挥发性化合物。本文简要介绍代谢组学主要技术平台、研究流程和统计方法,着重论述代谢组学在植物源性食品的品质鉴定、安全性及防伪评估、原料动态监控以及食品分类中的应用现状及发展趋势。     

紫陀螺菌营养品质及非靶代谢产物剖析

目的 深入了解紫陀螺菌的营养品质和次级代谢产物,以评估其食药应用价值。方法 以不同生长时期紫陀螺菌为研究对象,测定分析其蛋白质、脂肪、灰分、水分、矿物质和氨基酸含量,并采用液相色谱-四极杆-飞行时间质谱平台对代谢物进行测定,基于正交偏最小二乘判别分析筛选差异代谢物,通过京都基因组百科全书对组间差异代谢物进行通路富集分析。结果 紫陀螺菌含有丰富的蛋白质、矿物质、氨基酸,其中包括6种人体必需氨基酸及婴幼儿必需的组氨酸。苏氨酸、缬氨酸、赖氨酸的营养价值接近或超过标准鸡蛋蛋白,且漏斗期的紫陀螺菌蛋白质营养价值最高。通过非靶代谢组学分析,共获得2450个非靶代谢产物,经过数据库注释发现紫陀螺菌次级代谢产物丰富,包括脂肪酰类、羧酸及其衍生物、有机氧化物、异戊二醇脂类、类固醇及其衍生物、类黄酮类、酚类和生物碱类等。经差异代谢统计分析发现,不同生长时期紫陀螺菌代谢物种类和数量均存在差异,并随着子实体的成熟整体呈下调趋势。结论 紫陀螺菌营养成分丰富,且含有多种具有生理活性的次生代谢产物,本研究为紫陀螺菌食用与药用提供科学依据。     

代谢组学在食品安全风险监测与评估中的应用

近年来,食品安全问题成为各国关注的焦点问题。食品安全风险监测工作正面临巨大的挑战。代谢组学技术作为一个新兴的重要研究技术,在食品质量与安全、临床诊断和环境科学等领域广泛应用,食品及其危害物残留对机体的影响等食品安全问题可用代谢组学的技术进行全面分析。随着仪器手段的创新以及化学计量学的发展,代谢组学将与基因组学、蛋白质组学和转录组学的数据库相互衔接,推动系统生物学的发展,为食品质量与安全研究提供一个高通量、高灵敏度、高准确性平台。本文主要介绍代谢组学的研究方法及其在食品安全风险监测与评估方面的应用,以推动我国在快速检测检验方面的技术进步和突破,从而达到保障食品安全的目的。     

Different milk feeding intensities during the first 4 weeks of rearing dairy calves: Part 3: Plasma metabolomics analysis reveals long-term metabolic imprinting in Holstein heifers

Adequate nutrition of calves is a fundamental requirement for efficient production in later life. Suboptimal nutrition before weaning could have detrimental long-term effects on metabolic health and could thereby decrease production efficiency. In this study, the metabolomic profiles of German Holstein calves reared on whole milk ad libitum (n = 10), milk replacer ad libitum (n = 9), and milk replacer in restricted amounts (n = 9) were compared. Furthermore, this profiling approach was extended to the first lactation in the same animals for characterizing the long-term effect of quantitative and qualitative dietary manipulations affecting calves during development in a period that is sensitive to metabolic imprinting. Blood plasma samples were collected on d 3, 22, and 52 of life as well as during wk 4 before and wk 3 and 8 after the first calving. Samples were subjected to a targeted metabolomics analysis using the AbsoluteIDQ p180 kit of Biocrates Life Science AG (Innsbruck, Austria). Profiling of metabolomics data was performed by principal component analysis and heatmap visualization of the metabolome, as well as by comparing fold changes and t-test statistics of metabolites. A quantitative identification of 180 plasma metabolites was possible, belonging to the metabolite classes of acyl-carnitines, AA, biogenic amines, phosphatidylcholines, lysophosphatidylcholines, sphingomyelins, and hexoses. Comparing metabolite concentrations between ad libitum-reared and restrictively reared animals revealed significant differences both during calfhood as well as during first lactation. Most dominantly, acylcarnitines of both short- and long-chain length were more abundant in ad libitum reared animals in the long-term, suggesting alterations in mitochondrial function, most likely indicating adaptive mechanisms of energy expenditure. Furthermore, plasma sphingomyelin concentrations were affected by ad libitum versus restricted milk replacer feeding, which can imply long-term modulatory mechanisms affecting insulin sensitivity. The functional characterization of the identified metabolic patterns, particularly the alterations of single lipid species, is required for further improving our understanding of the links between early nutrition shaping metabolic development and a healthy productive life of Holstein dairy cows.     

代谢指纹分析及其在食品科学中的应用

代谢指纹分析是代谢组学的重要研究手段之一,它具有快速、高通量、全局分析的特点。文中在总结国内外近几年来有关代谢指纹分析研究开发与应用文献的基础上,对其概念与分类、分析流程及其在营养代谢性标记物研究、物质代谢规律研究、膳食调查与评价、食品原料差异性鉴别、食品质量评价与追溯等方面的应用,并对该技术在食品科学中应用进行了综述。     

果蔬酚酸生物合成及代谢调控研究进展

酚酸类物质是高等植物体内广泛分布的一类重要的次生代谢产物,具有抗氧化、抗炎、抗癌、抑菌、提高 免疫力等多种生物活性。近年来,大量的研究表明酚酸与植物生长发育及抗逆性、食品质量和人体健康密切相关, 有关植物酚酸的分离鉴定及生物合成途径已有广泛研究。本文综述了果蔬中酚酸的生物合成途径和酚酸与果蔬抗逆 性及品质间的关系,并对代谢组学在评价酚酸类物质分布规律中的应用进行了阐述,以期为酚酸类物质在果蔬中的 开发利用提供有益参考。     

Gut microbiota and metabolic changes towards improved gut health with supplementation of Woodfordia fruticosa,a medicinal plant: An in vitro study

Woodfordia fruticosa flowers are used as an important component in various fermentation-based traditional medicinal formulations for the treatment of gastrointestinal ailments. In the study, extract of flowers (WfE) was evaluated for its gut microbiota (GM) modulatory properties using in vitro fermentation experiments. WfE supplementation (0.5 and 1 mg/mL) led to significant changes in GM composition by increasing beneficial populations (8–44%) of genus Bifidobacterium, Akkermansia and Lactobacillus while decreasing pathogenic forms (35–91%) such as Bacteroides, Parabacteroides and Alistipes. Functional pathway prediction indicated upregulation of gluco-related metabolism, vitamin production, decrease in insulin resistance and lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis. Metabolomics (¹H NMR) revealed significant increase in butyric acid (≥48%) and other SCFAs (17–49%) and glycerylphosphorylcholine (55–85%), with decrease in trimethylamine (4–9%), and trimethylamine oxide (31–38%). Results indicated WfE to be a novel source of functional food ingredient/ supplement and its potential application in an unexplored area of “food phytoceuticals” for maintenance of gut homeostasis.Industrial relevanceMedicinal plants with a long history of use in the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases could be novel sources of functional food ingredients that can have application in gut health. WfE was effective in modifying the gut microbial environment constructively by increasing beneficial microbial populations, suppressing opportunistic pathogenic forms, and also generating key metabolites associated with gut protective functions. WfE has potential industrial application as a functional food ingredient/supplement particularly in decreasing pathogenic populations reported to be involved in manifestation of inflammation, IBD, IBS, and metabolic syndrome.