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. 2021 Jul 1;8(1):160.
doi: 10.1038/s41438-021-00596-x.

Evaluation of ambient mass spectrometry tools for assessing inherent postharvest pepper quality

Tyler J Mason  1 , Harmonie M Bettenhausen  1 , Jacqueline M Chaparro  1 , Mark E Uchanski  1 , Jessica E Prenni  2
Affiliations

Evaluation of ambient mass spectrometry tools for assessing inherent postharvest pepper quality

Tyler J Mason et al. Hortic Res. .

Abstract

Horticulturists are interested in evaluating how cultivar, environment, or production system inputs can affect postharvest quality. Ambient mass spectrometry approaches enable analysis of minimally processed samples under ambient conditions and offer an attractive high-throughput alternative for assessing quality characteristics in plant products. Here, we evaluate direct analysis in real time (DART-MS) mass spectrometry and rapid evaporative ionization-mass spectrometry (REIMS) to assess quality characteristics in various pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) cultivars. DART-MS exhibited the ability to discriminate between pod colors and pungency based on chemical fingerprints, while REIMS could distinguish pepper market class (e.g., bell, lunchbox, and popper). Furthermore, DART-MS analysis resulted in the putative detection of important bioactive compounds in human diet such as vitamin C, p-coumaric acid, and capsaicin. The results of this study demonstrate the potential for these approaches as accessible and reliable tools for high throughput screening of pepper quality.

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Conflict of interest statement

The funding organization (USDA OREI) had no input into the research design or presentation of outcomes. The NOVIC collaborative worked to harmonize field protocols and standard quality assessments, but not design of this work.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Vizualization of multivariate and univariate statistical analysis ofDART-MS data.
(a) multivariate O2PLS-DA scores plot by color (red vs. green) (b) volcano plot from univariate analysis showing the statistically significant (Benjamini-Hochberg false-discovery rate adjustments and α = 0.05) differences between mass bins associated with red and green bell peppers
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Heat map showing the differences in putatively annotated mass bins from DART-MS analysis of green, white, red, yellow, chocolate, and orange bell pepper phenotypes
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. Vizualization of multivariate and univariate statistical analysis ofDART-MS data.
(a) multivariate O2PLS-DA scores plot by flavor (sweet vs. pungent) (b) volcano plot from univariate analysis showing the statistically significant (Benjamini-Hochberg false-discovery rate adjustments and α = 0.05) differences between mass bins associated with sweet and pungent peppers
Fig. 4
Fig. 4. Vizualization of multivariate and univariate statistical analysis of REIMS data.
(a) multivariate O2PLS-DA scores plot by market class (b) heat map showing the relative differences (z-scores) in chemical profiles of popper, lunchbox and bell peppers
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