TY - JOUR
T1 - UHPLC-QTOF-HRMS metabolomics insight on the origin and processing authentication of thyme by comprehensive fingerprinting and chemometrics
AU - Rivera-Pérez, Araceli
AU - García-Pérez, Pascual
AU - Romero-González, Roberto
AU - Garrido Frenich, Antonia
AU - Lucini, Luigi
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - The metabolic composition of thyme, one of the most used aromatic herbs, is influenced by environmental and
post-harvest processing factors, presenting the possibility of exploiting thyme fingerprint to assess its authenticity.
In this study, a comprehensive UHPLC-QTOF-HRMS fingerprinting approach was applied with a dual
objective: (1) tracing thyme from three regions of production (Spain, Morocco, and Poland) and (2) evaluating
the metabolic differences in response to processing, considering sterilized thyme samples. Multivariate statistics
reveal 37 and 33 key origin and processing differentiation compounds, respectively. The findings highlighted the
remarkable “terroir” influence on thyme fingerprint, noticing flavonoids, amino acids, and peptides among the
most discriminant chemical classes. Thyme sterilization led to an overall metabolite enrichment, most likely due
to the facilitated compound accessibility as a result of processing. The findings provide a comprehensive
metabolomics insight into the origin and processing effect on thyme composition for product traceability and
quality assessment.
AB - The metabolic composition of thyme, one of the most used aromatic herbs, is influenced by environmental and
post-harvest processing factors, presenting the possibility of exploiting thyme fingerprint to assess its authenticity.
In this study, a comprehensive UHPLC-QTOF-HRMS fingerprinting approach was applied with a dual
objective: (1) tracing thyme from three regions of production (Spain, Morocco, and Poland) and (2) evaluating
the metabolic differences in response to processing, considering sterilized thyme samples. Multivariate statistics
reveal 37 and 33 key origin and processing differentiation compounds, respectively. The findings highlighted the
remarkable “terroir” influence on thyme fingerprint, noticing flavonoids, amino acids, and peptides among the
most discriminant chemical classes. Thyme sterilization led to an overall metabolite enrichment, most likely due
to the facilitated compound accessibility as a result of processing. The findings provide a comprehensive
metabolomics insight into the origin and processing effect on thyme composition for product traceability and
quality assessment.
KW - metabolomics
KW - metabolomics
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/232175
U2 - 10.1016/j.foodchem.2022.135123
DO - 10.1016/j.foodchem.2022.135123
M3 - Article
SN - 0308-8146
VL - 407
SP - 135123
EP - 135123
JO - Food Chemistry
JF - Food Chemistry
ER -