High-throughput analysis of anthocyanins in horticultural crops using probe electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (PESI/MS/MS).

Abstract

Plant secondary metabolites exhibit various horticultural traits. Simple and rapid analysis methods for evaluating these metabolites are in demand in breeding and consumer markets dealing with horticultural crops. We applied probe electrospray ionization (PESI) to evaluate secondary metabolite levels in horticultural crops. PESI does not require pre-treatment and separation of samples, which makes it suitable for high-throughput analysis. In this study, we targeted anthocyanins, one of the primary pigments in horticultural crops. Eighty-one anthocyanins were detected in approximately 3 minutes in the selected reaction-monitoring mode. Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) could adequately distinguish between the fragments of anthocyanins and flavonols. Probe sampling, an intuitive method of sticking a probe directly to the sample, could detect anthocyanins qualitatively on a micro-area scale, such as achenes and receptacles in strawberry fruit. Our results suggest that PESI/MS/MS can be a powerful tool to characterize the profile of anthocyanins and compare their content among cultivars.

Plant phenotyping relevance

PESI/MS/MSによるアントシアニン量・プロファイルの高速取得法を開発・適用し、品種比較や果実器官の局所評価に用いているため、植物形質の化学的フェノタイピングが中心である。

Code and data availability

The paper reports PESI/MS/MS anthocyanin measurements and PCA analysis, but no public dataset, code, or model deposit is provided. Data availability states all data are in the article/supplementary materials, and the only allowed URL is the CC-BY license, which is not a paper-specific asset.

No evidence-backed public reproduction asset is currently recorded.