Quantification of Water-Soluble Metabolites in Medicinal Mushrooms Using Proton NMR Spectroscopy

The water-soluble metabolites in 5 mushrooms were identified and quantified using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and software for targeted metabolite detection and quantification. In total, 35 compounds were found in Agaricus brasiliensis, 25 in Taiwanofungus camphoratus, 23 in Ganoderma lucidum (Taiwan) and Lentinus edodes, and 16 in G. lucidum (China). Total amounts of all identified metabolites in A. brasiliensis, T. camphoratus, G. lucidum, G. lucidum (China), and L. edodes were 149,950.51, 12,834.18, 9,549.09, 2,788.41, and 111,726.51 mg/kg dry weight, respectively. These metabolites were categorized into 4 groups: free amino acids and derivatives, carbohydrates, carboxylic acids, and nucleosides. Carbohydrates were the most abundant metabolites among all 4 groups, with mannitol having the highest concentration among all analyzed metabolites (848-94,104 mg/kg dry weight). Principal components analysis (PCA) showed obvious distinction among the metabolites of the 5 different kinds of mushrooms analyzed in this study. Thus PCA could provide an optional analytical way of identifying and recognizing the compositions of flavor products. Furthermore, the results of this study demonstrate that NMR-based metabolomics is a powerful tool for differentiating between various medicinal mushrooms.