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. 2023 May 30;8(23):21293-21304.
doi: 10.1021/acsomega.3c02729. eCollection 2023 Jun 13.

Impact of Sulfur Fumigation on the Chemistry of Dioscoreae Rhizoma (Chinese Yam)

Yui-Man Chan  1 , Bo-Wen Lu  2   3 , Wei-Hao Zhang  1 , Kam-Chun Chan  1 , Jing Fang  1 , Han-Yan Luo  1 , Juan Du  3 , Zhong-Zhen Zhao  4 , Hu-Biao Chen  1 , Caixia Dong  2 , Jun Xu  1   5
Affiliations

Impact of Sulfur Fumigation on the Chemistry of Dioscoreae Rhizoma (Chinese Yam)

Yui-Man Chan et al. ACS Omega. .

Abstract

Dioscoreae Rhizoma (Chinese yam; derived from the rhizome of Dioscorea opposita Thunb.) (DR), commonly consumed as a food or supplement, is often sulfur-fumigated during post-harvest handling, but it remains largely unknown if and how sulfur fumigation impacts the chemistry of DR. In this study, we report the impact of sulfur fumigation on the chemical profile of DR and then the molecular and cellular mechanisms potentially involved in the chemical variations induced by sulfur fumigation. The results show that sulfur fumigation significantly and specifically changed the small metabolites (molecular weight lower than 1000 Da) and polysaccharides of DR at both qualitative and quantitative levels. Multifaceted molecular and cellular mechanisms involving chemical transformations (e.g., acidic hydrolysis, sulfonation, and esterification) and histological damage were found to be responsible for the chemical variations in sulfur-fumigated DR (S-DR). The research outcomes provide a chemical basis for further comprehensive and in-depth safety and functional evaluations of sulfur-fumigated DR.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Representative BPI chromatograms of NS-DR and S-DR samples in negative and positive ion modes. The peak numbers are the same as those in Table S2. (B) Multivariate statistical analysis of NS-DR and S-DR samples. Significant components with VIP value greater than 1 are highlighted with red square in the VIP predictive distribution graph. Significant components are marked with its peak number in the volcano plot (n = 3).
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) Mass spectra and (B) EICs of the 10 chemical markers, and (C) contents of the 10 chemical markers and SO2 in NS-DR, S-DR, and Market-DR samples. 5: phenylalanine, 7: d-pantothenic acid, 9: tryptophan sulfonate, 10: methylcitric acid, 12: tryptophan, 28: 9,10,13-triHOME, 31: 9,10,11-trihydroxy-12-octadecenoic acid, 46: LysoPE (0:0/18:2), 47: LysoPC (0:0/18:2), 49: LysoPE (18:2/0:0). Peak intensities are expressed as mean ± SD. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001 (n = 3).
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) HPGPC chromatograms and (B) FT-IR spectra of NS-DR and S-DR polysaccharides.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Photomicrographs of histological cross sections of DR (15 μm thick): (A) NS-DR (40×), (B) NS-DR (100×), (C) S-DR (40×), (D) S-DR (100×), and (E) cell count on parenchyma cells. Parenchyma cells with the complete cell wall are selected from digital images (100×) from 5 views for each group using ImageJ software. Results are expressed as mean ± SD. ***p < 0.001. (n = 3).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Molecular and cellular mechanisms potentially involved in the chemical variations of DR by sulfur fumigation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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