Metabolic profiling discriminates between strawberry (Fragaria×ananassa Duch.) cultivars grown in Finland or Estonia

Anna Kårlund; Ulvi Moor; Gordon McDougall; Marko Lehtonen; Reijo O Karjalainen; Kati Hanhineva

doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2016.09.013

Metabolic profiling discriminates between strawberry (Fragaria×ananassa Duch.) cultivars grown in Finland or Estonia

Food Res Int. 2016 Nov;89(Pt 1):647-653. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2016.09.013. Epub 2016 Sep 10.

Authors

Anna Kårlund¹, Ulvi Moor², Gordon McDougall³, Marko Lehtonen⁴, Reijo O Karjalainen⁵, Kati Hanhineva⁶

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland. Electronic address: anna.karlund@uef.fi.
² Estonian University of Life Sciences, Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 1A, EE51014 Tartu, Estonia. Electronic address: Ulvi.Moor@emu.ee.
³ The James Hutton Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee DD2 5DA, Scotland, UK. Electronic address: Gordon.McDougall@hutton.ac.uk.
⁴ School of Pharmacy, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland. Electronic address: marko.lehtonen@uef.fi.
⁵ Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland; Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland. Electronic address: reijo.karjalainen@uef.fi.
⁶ Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland. Electronic address: kati.hanhineva@uef.fi.

PMID: 28460962
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2016.09.013

Abstract

Metabolic profiling analysis with LC-ESI-QTOF-MS was utilized to separate and identify 186 putative major metabolites demonstrating significantly different levels in 15 strawberry cultivars grown in Finland or Estonia. Principal component analysis showed close clustering of genetically related samples grown in Estonia, and hierarchical cluster analyses highlighted differences and similarities in their metabolic profiles driving separation between cultivars with specific metabolic phenotypes. Phenolic acids, flavonoids, flavan-3-ol derivatives, terpenes, and many types of glycosidically bound aroma and flavor precursors showed clear variation between strawberry cultivars. These cultivar-specific differences in the levels of major potentially bioactive phytochemicals in strawberries suggests that cultivar selection is essential for breeding strawberry cultivars with optimal phytochemical compositions contributing to possible functional properties and good cultivation and sensory qualities.

Keywords: Fragaria×ananassa Duch.; cluster analysis; cultivars; metabolomics; non-targeted metabolite profiling.