Pleiotropic analysis for flavor compounds to resolve generation of pleasant flavor characteristics in Japanese spices

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24500955
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Eating habits, studies on eating habits
• Research Institution: Kanagawa Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: IIJIMA YOKO 神奈川工科大学, 応用バイオ科学部, 准教授 (90415456)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): SUZUKI Hideyuki 公益財団法人かずさDNA研究所, バイオ研究開発部, グループ長 (80276162)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): KUBOTA Kikue 東京農業大学, 総合研究所, 教授 (90008730)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 香辛野菜 / 香気成分 / 色素成分 / ショウガ / サンショウ / ゲラニオール脱水素酵素

Outline of Final Research Achievements

It is popular to use fresh herbs and spices as “Yakumi” for Japanese cuisine, because their fresh flavor improves pleasant aroma or inhibit unsatisfied flavor of other foods. In this study, we focused on the flavor generation of ginger and Japanese pepper, and performed comprehensive analysis and clarified contributing factors for generation of their flavor. (1) Comparative analysis of immature and mature ginger rhizomes screened some key compounds which differentiate flavor profiles of them. Furthermore, yellow pigment of ginger rhizomes was dependent on the contents of curcumin, demethoxycurumin and 6-dehydrogingerdione. (2)We isolated and confirmed geraniol dehydrogenase (ZoGeDH) responsible for generation of geranial, a characteristic aroma compound in ginger. (3)Multivariate analyses of volatile profiles from eight kinds of Zanthoxylum leaves showed that Z. piperitum (Japanese pepper) lines were differentiated by high content of citronellal.

Free Research Field

食品化学