Emerging Research in Aromas & Sweetness Enhancement Thomas A. Colquhoun, Ph.D., Environmental Horticulture Department, UF/IFAS/Plant Innovation Center
UF/IFAS Plant Biotech Lab Scientific Goal: Better people s lives! 1. Enhance aesthetic appeal of plants 2. Increase flavor and nutrition of edible plant products 3. Deliver plant products consumers really want Scientific Structure: Psychophysics Molecular Biology/Biochemistry Plant Breeding/Genetics
Crops/Products Flowers petunia, lily, rose, Arabidopsis Foliage coleus, spath, ornamental blueberry, moss, grass Fruits tomato, strawberry, blueberry, peach, orange, cherry, grapefruit, apple Herbs basil, cilantro, microgreens, hops Other pine, corn, spaghetti sauce, jam, water, SWEETENERS
UF/IFAS-Plant Innovation Center Sensory Analysis Institutional & Corporate Partnerships Business & Marketing Food Science Plant Genetics New Variety Development BASIC Science Inputs New Product Development Postharvest Shipping & Handling Plant Supply Chain Plant Production APPLIED Science Outputs
To The Point Florida grows many high value specialty crops - tomato, strawberry, blueberry, citrus, etc UF is a land-grant University - agriculture and science So, as a group, we set out to help plant breeders select more flavorful fruits and vegetables
Complete Example Psychophysics: Colquhoun, T.A., Levin, L.A., Moskowitz, H.R., Whitaker, V.M., Clark, D.G., and Folta, K.M. (2012). Framing the perfect strawberry: An exercise in consumer-assisted selection of fruit crops. J. Berry Research. 2(1): 45-61. Metabolomics/Psychophysics: Schwieterman, M.L., Colquhoun, T.A., Bartoshuk, L.M., Jaworski, E.A., Gilbert, J.L., Tieman, D.M., Odabasi, A.Z., Moskowitz, H.R., Folta, K.M., Klee. H.J., Sims, C.A., Whitaker, V.M., and Clark, D.G. (2014). Strawberry flavor and sweet volatiles. PLoS ONE. 9(2): e88446. Breeding/Genetics: The Grower (2013). New strawberry varieties create a sensation. Renee Stern Florida Sensation
Translational Research Identified how to select for more flavorful fruit using consumer-assisted-selection But also stumbled upon the phenomena we are calling volatile-enhanced-taste Specifically, we will focus on sweet-enhancingvolatiles
Metabolomics Sugars UPLC/QQQMS Acids UPLC/QQQMS & enzymatic assays Volatiles push/pull dynamic headspace collection, GC/MS Psychophysics Sensory glms, measure sensory experience: visual, audio, taste, olfaction, somatosensory Hedonic hglms, measure affective experience: positive and negative
Analytical Equipment Volatile Phase Soluble Phase GC-FID GC-MS LC-MS
Compiled Data Sets Through all years, harvests, and fruit types: Common analytical methods & equipment Analytical standards & controls Cross-modal scales
Psychophysics Fruits are intermixed & group to human perception Overall Liking Sweetness Texture Fruit Flavor Sourness
Biochemistry Grouped by fruit type Sugars, Acids, & Volatiles
Multivariate Analyses
In Silico Mathematically deduced phenomenon Identified metabolites associated w/ - overall liking - overall fruit flavor - sweetness Some odd things too!
Interesting Observation
In Vitro Sugar solution: what is the correct concentration? Predicted concentrations based on what was relevant to fruit levels & optimized for perceived sweetness (that was a bit of math + trial & error) Nose plug method (humans are terrible mass specs)
Volatile-Enhanced Sweet in the Lab
In Vivo Needed someway to manipulate volatiles in fruit Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
Basil Volatiles
LED Optimization w/ Strawberry 3 strawberry cultivars 6 wavelengths, 3 fluence rates, 8 durations, 2 temperatures Many volatile collections and analyses
Strawberries, LEDs, & Volatiles Fruits & Treatment Sweet-Enhancing-Volatiles
Recap Identified taste modifying volatiles w/ math Validated sweet enhancing volatiles using simple taste solutions and combinations of volatiles Confirmed using LED treatments that manipulated levels of sweet enhancing volatiles
Positives & Negatives Taste enhancing volatiles are real Act additively Act at a low concentration Expression of olfactory receptors can vary by 30% Identification from fruits & validation is complex, math heavy, and takes some trial and error Seems to be conditioned Will have cultural variation
Acknowledgments Collaborators: Funding: Dave Clark, PhD Linda Bartoshuk, PhD Charles Sims, PhD Harry Klee, PhD Vance Whitaker, PhD James Olmstead, PhD Howard Moskowitz, PhD NIH USDA-NIFA UF/IFAS PIC