title: Metabolomics in melon: a new opportunity for aroma analysis.
abstract: Cucumis melo fruit is highly valued for its sweet and refreshing flesh, however the flavour and value are also highly influenced by aroma as dictated by volatile organic compounds (VOCs). A simple and robust method of sampling VOCs on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) has been developed. Contrasting cultivars of C. melo subspecies melo were investigated at commercial maturity: three cultivars of var. Cantalupensis group Charentais (cv. Cézanne, Escrito, and Dalton) known to exhibit differences in ripening behaviour and shelf-life, as well as one cultivar of var. Cantalupensis group Ha'Ogan (cv. Noy Yisre'el) and one non-climacteric cultivar of var. Inodorus (cv. Tam Dew). The melon cultivar selection was based upon fruits exhibiting clear differences (cv. Noy Yisre'el and Tam Dew) and similarities (cv. Cézanne, Escrito, and Dalton) in flavour. In total, 58 VOCs were detected by thermal desorption (TD)-GC-MS which permitted the discrimination of each cultivar via Principal component analysis (PCA). PCA indicated a reduction in VOCs in the non-climacteric cv. Tam Dew compared to the four Cantalupensis cultivars. Within the group Charentais melons, the differences between the short, mid and long shelf-life cultivars were considerable. ¹H NMR analysis led to the quantification of 12 core amino acids, their levels were 3-10-fold greater in the Charentais melons, although they were reduced in the highly fragrant cv. Cézanne, indicating their role as VOC precursors. This study along with comparisons to more traditional labour intensive solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) GC-MS VOC profiling data has indicated that the high-throughput PDMS method is of great potential for the assessment of melon aroma and quality.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester M1 7DN, UK; School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. Electronic address: j.w.allwood@bham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: J William
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Allwood
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester M1 7DN, UK.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester M1 7DN, UK.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Plant Research International, P.O. Box 16, 6700 AA Wageningen, Netherlands; Netherlands Metabolomics Centre, Einsteinweg 55, 2333 CC Leiden, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mumm
authors.affiliation: Plant Research International, P.O. Box 16, 6700 AA Wageningen, Netherlands; Netherlands Metabolomics Centre, Einsteinweg 55, 2333 CC Leiden, Netherlands; Centre for BioSystems Genomics, P.O. Box 98, 6700AB Wageningen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ric C H
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: De Vos
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR1332 Biologie du Fruit et Pathologie, INRA - Université de Bordeaux, Centre INRA de Bordeaux, IBVM, CS20032, F-33140 Villenave d'Ornon, France; Metabolome Facility of Bordeaux Functional Genomics Centre, Centre INRA de Bordeaux, IBVM, F-33140 Villenave d'Ornon, France.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Deborde
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR1332 Biologie du Fruit et Pathologie, INRA - Université de Bordeaux, Centre INRA de Bordeaux, IBVM, CS20032, F-33140 Villenave d'Ornon, France.
authors.forename: Benoit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Biais
authors.affiliation: Metabolome Facility of Bordeaux Functional Genomics Centre, Centre INRA de Bordeaux, IBVM, F-33140 Villenave d'Ornon, France; Université de Bordeaux, UMR1332 Biologie du Fruit et Pathologie, INRA - Université de Bordeaux, Centre INRA de Bordeaux, IBVM, CS20032, F-33140 Villenave d'Ornon, France.
authors.forename: Mickael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maucourt
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Research Organisation (ARO), The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel.
authors.forename: Yosef
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Research Organisation (ARO), The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel.
authors.forename: Arthur A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Schaffer
authors.affiliation: Metabolome Facility of Bordeaux Functional Genomics Centre, Centre INRA de Bordeaux, IBVM, F-33140 Villenave d'Ornon, France; Université de Bordeaux, UMR1332 Biologie du Fruit et Pathologie, INRA - Université de Bordeaux, Centre INRA de Bordeaux, IBVM, CS20032, F-33140 Villenave d'Ornon, France.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rolin
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR1332 Biologie du Fruit et Pathologie, INRA - Université de Bordeaux, Centre INRA de Bordeaux, IBVM, CS20032, F-33140 Villenave d'Ornon, France; Metabolome Facility of Bordeaux Functional Genomics Centre, Centre INRA de Bordeaux, IBVM, F-33140 Villenave d'Ornon, France.
authors.forename: Annick
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moing
authors.affiliation: Plant Research International, P.O. Box 16, 6700 AA Wageningen, Netherlands; Netherlands Metabolomics Centre, Einsteinweg 55, 2333 CC Leiden, Netherlands; Centre for BioSystems Genomics, P.O. Box 98, 6700AB Wageningen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Robert D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester M1 7DN, UK; Manchester Centre for Integrative Systems Biology, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester M1 7DN, UK.
authors.forename: Royston
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Goodacre
mesh_terms: D028463:Cucumis melo / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D055432:Metabolomics; D009812:Odorants / Q000032:analysis*; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds
keywords: Amino acid; Aroma; Cucumis melo; Gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC–MS); Metabolomics; Proton-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H NMR); Solid phase micro extraction (SPME); Thermal desorption (TD); Volatile organic compound (VOC)