Monitoring contamination of perchlorate migrating along the food chain to dairy products poses risks to human health

Integrative deep learning framework predicts lipidomics-based investigation of preservatives on meat nutritional biomarkers and metabolic pathways

Preservatives are added as antimicrobial agents to extend the shelf life of meat. Adding preservatives to meat products can affect their flavor and nutrition. This review clarifies the effects of preservatives on metabolic pathways and network molecular transformations in meat products based on lipidomics, metabolomics and proteomics analyses. Preservatives change the nutrient content of meat products via altering ionic strength and pH to influence enzyme activity. Ionic strength in salt triggers muscle triglyceride hydrolysis by causing phosphorylation and lipid droplet splitting in adipose tissue hormone-sensitive lipase and triglyceride lipase. DisoLipPred exploiting deep recurrent networks and transfer learning can predict the lipid binding trend of each amino acid in the disordered region of input protein sequences, which could provide omics analyses of biomarkers metabolic pathways in meat products. While conventional meat quality assessment tools are unable to elucidate the intrinsic mechanisms and pathways of variables in the influences of preservatives on the quality of meat products, the promising application of omics techniques in food analysis and discovery through multimodal learning prediction algorithms of neural networks (e.g., deep neural network, convolutional neural network, artificial neural network) will drive the meat industry to develop new strategies for food spoilage prevention and control.

Comparative Analysis of Chemical Composition of Zanthoxylum myriacanthum Branches and Leaves by GC-MS and UPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS, and Evaluation of Their Antioxidant Activities

Zanthoxylum myriacanthum Wall. ex Hook. f., a plant belonging to the Rutaceae family and the Zanthoxylum genus, is extensively utilized for its medicinal properties and as a culinary seasoning in China and Southeast Asian countries. However, the chemical composition and biological activities of Z. myriacanthum branches and leaves remain insufficiently explored. In this study, the volatile and non-volatile components of Z. myriacanthum branches and leaves were analyzed using GC-MS and UPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS techniques. A total of 78 volatile compounds and 66 non-volatile compounds were identified. The volatile compounds were predominantly terpenoids and aliphatic compounds, while the non-volatile compounds were primarily flavonoids and alkaloids. The branches contained 52 volatile compounds and 33 non-volatile compounds, whereas the leaves contained 48 volatile compounds and 40 non-volatile compounds. The antioxidant activities of the methanol extracts from Z. myriacanthum branches and leaves were evaluated using ABTS and DPPH free-radical-scavenging assays, both of which demonstrated certain antioxidant activity. The methanol extract of leaves demonstrated significantly higher antioxidant activity compared to that of the branches, possibly due to the higher presence of flavonoids and phenols in the leaves, with IC50 values of 7.12 ± 0.257 μg/mL and 1.22 × 102 ± 5.01 μg/mL for ABTS and DPPH, respectively. These findings enhance our understanding of the chemical composition and antioxidant potential of Z. myriacanthum. The plant holds promise as a natural source of antioxidants for applications in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and functional foods. Further research can explore its broader biological activities and potential applications.

Quantitative fusion omics reveals that refrigeration drives methionine degradation through perturbing 5-methyltetrahydropteroyltriglutamate-homocysteine activity

Postharvest senescence and quality deterioration of fresh tea leaves occurred due to the limitation of processing capacity. Refrigerated storage prolongs the shelf life of fresh tea. In this study, quantitative fusion omics delineated the translational landscape of metabolites and proteins in time-series (0-12 days) refrigerated tea by UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS. Accurate quantification results showed the content of amino acids, especially l-theanine, decreased with the lengthening of the storage duration (15.57 mg g^-1 to 7.65 mg g^-1) driven by theanine synthetase. Downregulation of enzyme 5-methyltetrahydropteroyltriglutamate-homocysteine methyltransferase expression led to methionine degradation (6.29 µg g^-1 to 1.78 µg g^-1). Refrigerated storage inhibited serine carboxypeptidase-like acyltransferases activity (59.49 % reduction in 12 days) and induced the polymerization of epicatechin and epigallocatechin and generation of procyanidin dimer and δ-type dehydrodicatechin, causing the manifestation of color deterioration. A predictive model incorporating zero-order reaction and Arrhenius equation was constructed to forecast the storage time of green tea.

Naturally forming benzoic acid orientates perilipin to facilitate glyceride-type polyunsaturated fatty acid degradation via fermentation behavior

Naturally forming benzoic acid in fermented dairy products accumulates in organisms and biomagnifies through collateral transport. The association between benzoic acid agglomeration and susceptible lipid nutrients remains obscure. Horizontal analysis of lipidomic alteration in response to benzoic acid was conducted and the spatially proteomic map was constructed using label-free quantitative proteomics. From synergistic integration of multi-omics in benzoic acid accumulated fermented goat milk model, the biological processes of significant proteins mostly focused on glyceride-type polyunsaturated fatty acids degradation (143.818 ± 0.51 mg/kg to 104.613 ± 0.29 mg/kg). As a physiological barrier shield, perilipin, which is coated on the surface of lipid droplets, protects triacylglycerols from cytosolic lipases, thus preventing triglyceride hydrolysis. The expression of perilipin decreased by 90% compared with the control group, leading to the decrease of triglycerides. Benzoic acid suppressed phosphatidylethanolamines and phosphatidylcholines synthesis by attenuating choline phosphotransferase and ethanolamine phosphotransferase. Less diglyceride generated by the dephosphorylation of phosphatidic acid entered choline phosphotransferase and ethanolamine phosphotransferase-mediated glycerophospholipid metabolisms. Fermentation of goat milk at a low temperature and less incubation time leads to the production of less benzoic acid and mitigation of lipid nutrient loss. The present study delineated the molecular landscape of fermented goat milk containing endogenous benzoic acid and further dissected the trajectory guiding lipid alteration to advance control of benzoic acid residue.

Applications of lipidomics in goat meat products: Biomarkers, structure, nutrition interface and future perspectives

Goat meat, as a superior product including low lipids, low cholesterol contents and high-quality proteins, becomes the superior food for the national market. With the increasing demand for goat meat, the production, sensory quality and physicochemical properties of goat meat are also widely observed. Following significant discoveries on the mechanism determining goat meat quality, further research on complex and interactive factors leading to changes of goat meat quality is increasingly based on data-driven "omics" methods, such as lipidomics, which can rapidly identify and quantify >1000 lipid species at same time facilitating comprehensive analyses of lipids in tissues. Molecular mechanism and biomarkers indicating the changes of goat meat quality, authentication, meat analogue, nutrition and health by lipidomics are feasible. According to the analysis results of the classes and of different biomarkers lipids of goat meat quality, the main processes involved the biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids, associations with lipids and proteins, lipid oxidation, lipid hydrolysis, lipid degradation, lipid deposition and lipid denaturation, which have been translated into advanced technologies for identifying the goat meat adulteration and faux meat rapidly and accurately. SIGNIFICANCE: In this review, the research of lipidomics technology, past applications, recent findings and common on the recent advances of lipidomics in the quality assessment of mutton products by lipidomics with MS approaches have been summarized. The information reported in review can serve as a reference to characterize the lipids found in mutton, clarify the application of lipidomics to the field of mutton products and provide new perspectives in producing superior quality mutton products.

MXene-based aptasensor for the detection of aflatoxin in food and agricultural products

The detection of toxins that contaminate food needs highly sensitive and selective techniques to prevent substantial monitory loss. In this regard, various nanostructured material-enabled biosensors, have recently been developed to improve the detection of food toxins among them aflatoxin is the prevalent one. The biosensor-based detection of aflatoxin is quick, cheaper, and needs less skilled personnel, therefore overcoming the shortcomings of conventional techniques such as LC/MS-MS, HPLC, and ELISA assays. 2D MXenes manifest as an efficient material for biosensing due to their desirable biocompatibility, magnificent mechanical strength, easiness of surface functionalization, and tuneable optical and electronic features. Contrary to this, aptamers as biorecognition elements (BREs) possess high selectivity, sensitivity, and ease of synthesis when compared to conventional BREs. In this review, we explored the most cutting-edge aptamer-based MXene-enabled biosensing technologies for the detection of the most poisonous mycotoxins (i.e., Aflatoxins) in food and environmental matrices. The discussion begins with the synthesis processes and surface functionalization/modification of MXenes. Computational approaches for designing aptasensors and advanced data analysis based on artificial intelligence and machine learning with special emphasis over Internet-of-Thing integrated biosensing devices has been presented. Besides, the advantages of aptasensors over conventional methods along with their limitations have been briefed. Their benefits, drawbacks, and future potential are discussed concerning their analytical performance, utility, and on-site adaptability. Additionally, next-generation MXene-enabled biosensing technologies that provide end users with simple handling and improved sensitivity and selectivity have been emphasized. Owing to massive applicability, economic/commercial potential of MXene in current and future perspective have been highlighted. Finally, the existing difficulties are scrutinized and a roadmap for developing sophisticated biosensing technologies to detect toxins in various samples in the future is projected.

Hydrocortisone-Containing Animal-Derived Food Intake Affects Lipid Nutrients Utilization

SCOPE

As the tremendous increases in consumption of animal-derived food, endogenous hydrocortisone migrating along the food chain to organism arouses extensive attention. This study aims to investigate the cumulative impacts of dietary hydrocortisone intake and mechanistic understanding on metabolism of lipid nutrients.

METHODS AND RESULTS

A total of 120 porcine muscles samples with different concentrations of hydrocortisone are collected at three time points. An operational food chain simulation framework is constructed and 175 lipid molecules are identified by UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS. Compared to the control group, 66 lipid molecules are significantly different, including 17 triglycerides and 31 glycerophospholipids. Integrated analyses of lipidomics and proteomics indicate that hydrocortisone promotes adipose triglyceride lipase and hormone sensitive lipase activity to precondition for triglycerides hydrolysis. Quantitative lipidomics analysis shows the presence of hydrocortisone decreases the concentration of docosahexaenoic acid (3.66 ± 0.15-3.09 ± 0.12 mg kg^-1 ) and eicosapentanoic acid (0.54 ± 0.09-0.48 ± 0.06 mg kg^-1 ). A noteworthy increase of most saturated triglycerides concentration with the prolonging of time is observed.

CONCLUSIONS

Hydrocortisone originating from animal-derived food induces glycerophospholipids degradation and triglycerides hydrolysis through promoting adipose triglyceride lipase, hormone sensitive lipase, and phosphoglycerate kinase activity and further intervenes lipid nutrients utilization.

Novel insight into the transformation of peptides and potential benefits in brown fermented goat milk by mesoporous magnetic dispersive solid phase extraction-based peptidomics

Brown fermented goat milk as an excellent source of bioactive peptides has only been partially elucidated. Meticulously synthesized MOF@MG as magnetic sorbent for enriching endogenous peptides owned higher reproducibility and uniform distribution of peptides PI compared with ultrafiltration. Combined with UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap, fermentation for 12 h in brown goat milk with the highest overall acceptable degree through sensory evaluation was utilized to explore the transformation of peptides and health benefits, with trypsin or plasmin hydrolyzing proteins and aminopeptidase or carboxypeptidase hydrolyzing peptides to small peptides or amino acids. A total of 1317 peptides were identified by database matching (1259) and de novo sequencing (58), among 18 peptides could originate from gene-independent enzymatic formation and top 25 characteristic peptides were quantified with concentration ranging from 0.12 to 6.40 mg L^-1. Bioinformatic analysis results indicated that brown fermented goat milk possesses higher health benefits because of more than 50 peptides with potential bioactivity.

Strategies for studying in vivo biochemical formation pathways and multilevel distributions of sulfanilamide metabolites in food (2012-2022)

Sulfonamide metabolites are a major source of food pollution worldwide. However, the formation of internal sulfanilamide metabolites has only been investigated for selected compounds. In this paper, the fragmentation mechanism and characteristic ions of sulfonamide metabolites are reviewed using density functional theory and Q-Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry. The result of the protonation site, rearrangement and bond breaking induced fragmentations at C₆H₆NO₂S⁺m/z 156.01138, C₆H₆NO⁺m/z 108.04439, and C₆H₆N⁺m/z 92.04948. Mass shifts are calculated for derivative metabolites, including hydrogenation, acetylation, oxidation, glucosylation, glucosidation, sulfation, deamination, formylation, desulfonation and O-aminomethylation. Given their homologous series, it is demonstrated that similar metabolic reactions occur for all sulfonamides. The suspicious sulfonamide metabolites are confirmed by d-labelling experiments and reference standards. This is the first review of the latest advances in the field of sulfonamide metabolite prediction (2012-2022), and scheme design for metabolite multirresidue screening, as well as the challenges in the mass spectrometry evolution.

Bioaccessibility of phospholipids in homogenized goat milk: Lipid digestion ecology through INFOGEST model

Phospholipids-rich goat milk provides health benefits to consumers. The effects of homogenization on the disruption and recombination of milk fat globule membrane and change the fatty acid positional distribution in glycerophospholipids profile by phosphatidylcholine metabolism pathways were investigated. Goat milk was homogenized at different intensity pressure. Homogenized samples were introduced into harmonized INFOGEST digestion model. Results showed that phosphatidylcholine increased significantly during storage in 30 MPa and were approximately twice that in raw milk (LOD 0.27-1.49 μg/L and LOQ 0.89-4.92 μg/L, respectively). Meanwhile, both linoleic acid (C18:2) and α-linolenic acid (C18:3ω-3), the foremost polyunsaturated acyl chains in homogenized milk extracts, showed upward trends. Notably, homogenization increased the number and altered the composition of Sn-1, 2 diacylglycerols via increasing trypsin and pancreatic lipase (PLRP2, MAUC15, CD36 and BSSL) expression and accelerated the phosphatidylcholine conversion. Ultimately, the relationship between homogenization and milk fat globule recombination and phospholipids bioaccessibility was preliminary established.

Effects of Short-Chain Peptides on the Flavor Profile of Baijiu by the Density Functional Theory: Peptidomics, Sensomics, Flavor Reconstitution, and Sensory Evaluation

The effect of peptides on the flavor profile of Baijiu is unclear as a result of their trace concentrations in the complex matrix, and therefore, the study involving the interaction mechanism between peptides and flavor compounds is limited. In this study, short-chain peptides (amino acid number between 2 and 4, SCPs) associated with the Feng-flavor Baijiu (FFB) were comprehensively analyzed by a dedicated workflow using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography Q Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry, flavor reconstitution experiments, sensory analysis, and density functional theory (DFT) analysis. The concentrations of 96 SCPs intimately related with six different grades of honey aroma intensity in FFB were quantified (0.12-155.01 μg L^-1) after multivariable analysis, Spearman's correlation analysis (ρ ≥ 0.7), and confirmation with synthetic standards, and 32 dominant odorants with an odor activity value of ≥1 in FFB with the highest intensity of honey aroma were quantified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-flame ionization detection analyses. The results of flavor reconstitution experiments and sensory analysis indicated that the SCPs can obviously influence the honey aroma with amplifying the fruity, sweet, and flora flavor odor characters (p < 0.05) while significantly reducing the acidic character (p < 0.001), which could be attributed to the most stable complex structure between SCPs and odor-active compounds calculated by DFT being butanoic acid, followed by β-damascenone, 3-methylbutanal, and ethyl hexanoate, and the multiple sites as a hydrogen bond donor or acceptor in SCPs can form a stable ternary structure with water and ethanol inside the peptide chain or carboxyl terminal of SCPs, consequently improving the stability of the Baijiu system. The results highlighted the important role of SCPs on the volatiles in Baijiu and laid the foundation for further facilitating the sensory quality of Baijiu products.

Hydrogen bonds and hydrophobicity with mucin and α-amylase induced honey aroma in Feng-flavor Baijiu during 16 years aging

Honey aroma is one of the most significant factors of Feng-flavor Baijiu, which is also an essential element to attract consumers. However, the evaluation and chemical basis of honey aroma is unclear. Palmitoleic acid, lagochilin, phomotenone and ethyl behenate were confirmed to be the strongest contributors to honey aroma by time-intensity analysis and UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap-MS. Predictive modeling was developed for processing honey aroma intensity responses in order to obtain significant Feng-flavor Baijiu rankings. In this study, the effects of ex-vivo saliva on Feng-flavor Baijiu were investigated for the first time. Mucin and α-amylase, as major proteins in ex-vivo saliva, were applied to simulate molecular docking of ethyl benzoate. Mucin and α-amylase modified the aroma release, which depended on hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions, respectively. It is blazing a trail in the field in sensory experience of Feng-flavor Baijiu as well as contributes to our understanding of Feng-flavor Baijiu drinking process.

Discovery of Se-containing flavone in Se-enriched green tea and the potential application value in the immune regulation

Selenium (Se)-enriched green tea has been recognized as a possible source of supplemental Se, while the structural and physiological activities of Se-containing flavone are still unclear. In this study, a Se-containing flavone was isolated from Se-enriched green tea by high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) and characterized through UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap, FT-IR and NMR. Results proved that HSeO₃^- can be combined with the alcohol hydroxyl of 2-phenylchromone in flavone and the content of Se-containing flavone in tea was 15690.4 μg L^-1. Additionally, Se-containing flavone can effectively inhibit the production of nitric oxide (NO), and downregulate expression of TNF-α and IL-6. Compared with regular flavone extracted from green tea (43.24 pg mL^-1), release of IL-10 was higher in Se-containing flavone group (53.37 pg mL^-1), indicating that Se-containing flavone played an important role in the process of severe inflammatory injury. The results indicated that Se-containing flavone was an attractive natural ingredient for developing novel functional foods.