The stress-induced metabolites changes in the flavor formation of oolong tea during enzymatic-catalyzed process: A case study of Zhangping Shuixian tea

• Published in: Food chemistry 2022-10, Vol.391, p.133192-133192, Article 133192
• Main Authors: Wu, Liangyu, Wang, Yahui, Liu, Suhui, Sun, Yun, Li, Chenxue, Lin, Jinke, Wei, Shu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Enzymatic-catalyzed process; Non-volatile compounds; Volatile compounds; Zhangping Shuixian tea
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2022.133192

•980 non-volatile and 157 volatile metabolites were identified.•An integrated metabolites-proteins pathway network was constructed.•The electronic-sensory were used to explore flavoring-compounds. To interpret the environmental stresses induced dynamic changes of volatile and non-volatile constitutes in oolong tea leaves during enzymatic-catalyzed processes (ECP), metabolomic and proteomic studies were carried out using the processed leaf samples collected at the different stages of ECP for Zhangping Shuixian tea manufacture. Non-processed leaves were applied as control. Out of identified 980 non-volatiles and 157 volatiles, 40 non-volatiles and 8 volatiles were screened out as biomarkers, respectively. The integrated analysis on metabolites-proteins showed that phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, flavonoid biosynthesis, and phenylalanine metabolism were significantly enriched and highly correlated to the dynamic changes of key metabolites during ECP stage. A biological pathway network was constructed to illuminate the enzymatic-catalyzed production of critical flavoring compounds, including carbohydrates, amino acids, flavonoids, and volatile phenylpropanoids/benzenoids. The electronic-sensory analyses indicated leaf dehydration and mechanical wounding occurred over the sun-withering and turning-over steps are indispensable to form characteristic flavor of Shuixian tea.