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Advantage of LC-MS metabolomics to identify marker compounds in two types of Chinese dark tea after different post-fermentation processes

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Abstract

Chinese dark tea (CDT) was investigated for chemical characteristics using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS) metabolomics analysis. The LC-MSn method was used for detection of secondary metabolites in 10 CDT varieties. Pattern recognition methods, including principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal projection on latent structure-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), revealed clear differences and classified the CDT varieties into 2 categories. One category is fermented with Aspergillus niger while the other (fu teas) is fermented with Eurotium cristatum. Chemical analyses identified 25 marker compounds that contribute to the classification of the 2 CDT types. Flavonoid triglycosides and catechin derivatives were the distinctive compounds of fu teas, based on MS/MS fragmentation analysis. Although both fu teas and dark teas are commonly called CDTs, differences between these two CDT types are significant in the chemical classification.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Tea Biochemistry & Biotechnology, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Agriculture, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, Anhui, 230036, China

    Liang Zhang, Wei-Wei Deng & Xiao-chun Wan

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  1. Liang Zhang
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  2. Wei-Wei Deng
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  3. Xiao-chun Wan
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Correspondence to Xiao-chun Wan.

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Zhang, L., Deng, WW. & Wan, Xc. Advantage of LC-MS metabolomics to identify marker compounds in two types of Chinese dark tea after different post-fermentation processes. Food Sci Biotechnol 23, 355–360 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10068-014-0049-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10068-014-0049-9

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