title: Sensomics-Assisted Elucidation of the Tastant Code of Cooked Crustaceans and Taste Reconstruction Experiments.
abstract: Sensory-guided fractionation by means of ultrafiltration and cation-exchange chromatography, followed by MS/MS quantitation, and taste re-engineering experiments revealed the key taste molecules coining the characteristic taste profile of the cooked meat of king prawns. Furthermore, quantitative analysis demonstrated that the taste differences between crustaceans are due to quantitative differences in the combinatorial code of tastants, rather than to qualitative differences in the tastant composition. Besides the amino acids glycine, L-proline, and L-alanine, the characteristic seafood-like sweet profile was found to be due to the sweet modulatory action of quaternary ammonium compounds, among which betaine, homarine, stachydrin, and trimethylamine-N-oxide were found as the key contributors on the basis of dose-activity considerations. Knowledge of this combinatorial tastant code provides the foundation for the development of more sophisticated crustacean flavors that are lacking any heavy metal ions and allergenic proteins present when using crustacean extracts for food flavoring.
authors.affiliation: Chair of Food Chemistry and Molecular and Sensory Science, Technische Universität München , Lise-Meitner-Straße 34, D-84354 Freising, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.affiliation: Chair of Food Chemistry and Molecular and Sensory Science, Technische Universität München , Lise-Meitner-Straße 34, D-84354 Freising, Germany.|Bavarian Center for Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry , Gregor-Mendel-Straße 4, D-85354 Freising, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dunkel
authors.affiliation: Chair of Food Chemistry and Molecular and Sensory Science, Technische Universität München , Lise-Meitner-Straße 34, D-84354 Freising, Germany.|Bavarian Center for Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry , Gregor-Mendel-Straße 4, D-85354 Freising, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hofmann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D003296:Cooking; D003445:Crustacea / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D005421:Flavoring Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015394:Molecular Structure; D012758:Shellfish / Q000032:analysis*; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry; D013649:Taste; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D005421:Flavoring Agents
keywords: lobster; prawns; seafood; taste; taste dilution analysis; taste enhancer