Metabolic profiling of pale green and purple kohlrabi (Brassica oleracea var. gongylodes)

• Published in: Applied biological chemistry 2017, 60(3), , pp.249-257
• Main Authors: Park, Chang Ha, Yeo, Hyun Ji, Kim, Nam Su, Eun, Park Ye, Kim, Sun-Ju, Arasu, Mariadhas Valan, Al-Dhabi, Naif Abdullah, Park, Soo-Yun, Kim, Jae Kwang, Park, Sang Un
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino acids; Anthocyanins; Applied Microbiology; Biological Techniques; Bioorganic Chemistry; Brassica; Brassica oleracea; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chromatography; Cultivars; Diet; Gas chromatography; High performance liquid chromatography; Liquid chromatography; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Metabolism; Metabolites; Organic acids; Phenotypic variations; Principal components analysis; Secondary metabolites; Sugar; Vegetables; 농학
• ISSN: 2468-0834; 2468-0842
• DOI: 10.1007/s13765-017-0274-z

Kohlrabi ( Brassica oleracea var. gongylodes ) is a dietary Brassica vegetable with noted health-beneficial properties associated with its numerous metabolites. The aim of this study was to elucidate phenotypic variation between the two cultivars through comprehensive analysis of the relationship of their primary and secondary metabolites. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOFMS) are considered useful tools for profiling primary and secondary metabolites. A total of 45 metabolites, including organic acids, amino acids, sugars, and an amine, were identified in pale green and purple kohlrabies using GC-TOFMS-based metabolic profiling. The resulting data sets were analyzed by principal component analysis to determine the overall variation, and the purple and pale green vegetables were separated by the score plots generated. Additionally, HPLC analysis of anthocyanins in both cultivars revealed that green kohlrabies did not contain any anthocyanidins, while 11 anthocyanins were quantified in the purple ones. Cyanidin was the dominant anthocyanin found in the purple cultivar, with cyanidin-3-(feruloyl)-diglucoside-5-glucoside being the major one. This study suggests that GC-TOFMS and HPLC are suitable tools to determine metabolic connection among various metabolites and describe phenotypic variation between green and purple kohlrabies.