A new exploration of licorice metabolome

Giovanni Rizzato; Elisa Scalabrin; Marta Radaelli; Gabriele Capodaglio; Oreste Piccolo

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2016.11.068

A new exploration of licorice metabolome

Food Chem. 2017 Apr 15:221:959-968. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2016.11.068. Epub 2016 Nov 17.

Authors

Giovanni Rizzato¹, Elisa Scalabrin², Marta Radaelli³, Gabriele Capodaglio⁴, Oreste Piccolo⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, University of Venice, Ca' Foscari, Via Torino, 155, 30172 Venezia Mestre (VE), Italy. Electronic address: giovanni.rizzato@unive.it.
² Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, University of Venice, Ca' Foscari, Via Torino, 155, 30172 Venezia Mestre (VE), Italy. Electronic address: elisa.scalabrin@unive.it.
³ Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, University of Venice, Ca' Foscari, Via Torino, 155, 30172 Venezia Mestre (VE), Italy. Electronic address: marta.radaelli@unive.it.
⁴ Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, University of Venice, Ca' Foscari, Via Torino, 155, 30172 Venezia Mestre (VE), Italy. Electronic address: capoda@unive.it.
⁵ S.C.S.O.P., Via Bornò 5, 23896 Sirtori (LC), Italy. Electronic address: orestepiccolo@tin.it.

PMID: 27979300
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2016.11.068

Abstract

The roots and rhizomes of licorice plants (genus Glycyrrhiza L.) are commercially employed, after processing, in confectionery production or as sweetening and flavouring agents in the food, tobacco and beer industries. G. glabra, G. inflata and G. uralensis are the most significant licorice species, often indistinctly used for different productions. Licorice properties are directly related to its chemical composition, which determines the commercial values and the quality of the derived products. In order to better understand the characteristics and properties of each species, a chemical characterization of three species of licorice (G. glabra, G. inflata, G. uralensis) is proposed, through an untargeted metabolomic approach and using high-resolution mass spectrometry. The statistical analysis reveals new possible markers for the analyzed species, and provides a reliable identification of a high number of metabolites, contributing to the characterization of Glycyrrhiza metabolome.

Keywords: Glabridin (PubChem CID: 124052); Glycyrrhizin (PubChem CID: 14982); Guangsangon F (PubChem CID: 12137388); HPLC-HRMS; Kanzonol Y (PubChem CID: 10001604); Licochalcone A (PubChem CID: 5318998); Licochalcone D (PubChem CID: 10473311); Licorice; Metabolomics; Mulberrofuran K (PubChem CID: 14334316); Quercetin (PubChem CID: 5280343).

MeSH terms

Glycyrrhiza / metabolism*
Mass Spectrometry
Metabolome*
Plant Roots / metabolism*