title: Betaines and related ammonium compounds in chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.).
abstract: Chestnut fruits, being poor of simple sugars and consisting mainly of fibers and starch, are among the constituents of Mediterranean diet. While numerous studies report on content of proteins and amino acids in chestnut, no one has appeared so far on betaines, an important class of nitrogen compounds ubiquitous in plants for their protective action in response to abiotic stress. In this study, we analyzed by HPLC-ESI-tandem mass spectrometry, in fruits and flours of varieties of chestnut cultivated in Italy, the composition of betaines and ammonium compounds intermediates of their biosynthesis. Besides the parent amino acids, the compounds quantified were choline, glycerophosphocholine, phosphocholine, glycine betaine, N-methylproline, proline betaine (stachydrine), β-alanine betaine, 4-guanidinobutyric acid, trigonelline, N,N,N-trimethyllysine. Interestingly, some uncommon derivatives of pipecolic acid, such as N-methylpipecolic acid, 4-hydroxypipecolic acid and 4-hydroxy-N-methylpipecolic acid were identified for the first time in chestnut samples and characterized by MS(n) tandem mass spectrometry.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biochimica, Biofisica e Patologia Generale, Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli, Via L. De Crecchio 7, 80138 Napoli, Italy. Electronic address: luigi.servillo@unina2.it.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Servillo
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biochimica, Biofisica e Patologia Generale, Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli, Via L. De Crecchio 7, 80138 Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giovane
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biochimica, Biofisica e Patologia Generale, Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli, Via L. De Crecchio 7, 80138 Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Rosario
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Casale
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biochimica, Biofisica e Patologia Generale, Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli, Via L. De Crecchio 7, 80138 Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Luisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Balestrieri
authors.affiliation: Stazione Sperimentale per le Industrie delle Essenze e dei derivati dagli Agrumi, Azienda Speciale della Camera di Commercio di Reggio Calabria, Via Generale Tommasini 2, 89127 Reggio Calabria, Italy.
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cautela
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie, Università degli Studi del Sannio, Via Port'Arsa 11, 82100 Benevento, Italy; Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Scienze dell'Alimentazione, Via Roma 64, 83100 Avellino, Italy.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paolucci
authors.affiliation: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Scienze dell'Alimentazione, Via Roma 64, 83100 Avellino, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Siano
authors.affiliation: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Scienze dell'Alimentazione, Via Roma 64, 83100 Avellino, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Grazia
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Volpe
authors.affiliation: Stazione Sperimentale per le Industrie delle Essenze e dei derivati dagli Agrumi, Azienda Speciale della Camera di Commercio di Reggio Calabria, Via Generale Tommasini 2, 89127 Reggio Calabria, Italy; Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico, Via Molise 2, Roma, Italy; Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale e ProdAL scarl, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via Ponte Don Melillo 1, 84084 Fisciano, Salerno, Italy.
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Castaldo
mesh_terms: D064751:Ammonium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D001622:Betaine / Q000737:chemistry*; D031256:Eleocharis / Q000737:chemistry*; D009754:Nuts / Q000737:chemistry*; D011392:Proline / Q000031:analogs & derivatives
chemical_list: D064751:Ammonium Compounds; C509449:N-methylproline; D001622:Betaine; D011392:Proline; C003342:stachydrine
keywords: 4-Guanidinobutyric acid; 4-Hydroxy-N-methylpipecolic acid; 4-Hydroxypipecolic acid; Amino acids; Betaines; Chestnut; Glycine betaine; Mediterranean diet; N-Methylpipecolic acid; Pipecolic acid; Quaternary ammonium compounds; Stachydrine; β-Alanine betaine