Characterisation of legumes by enzymatic hydrolysis, microdialysis sampling, and micro-high-performance anion-exchange chromatography with electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry.

An assay based on enzymatic hydrolysisand microdialysis sampling, micro-high-performance anion-exchange chromatography (micro-HPAEC) with electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) for the characterisation of legumes is presented. Characterisation of two bean varieties; Phaseolus mungo and P. acutifilous was based upon enzymatic hydrolysis using an endo-beta-mannanase from Aspergillus niger with subsequent analysis of the hydrolysates with HPAEC-MS. The hydrolysates were detected in the positive ionisation mode after desalting the chromatographic effluent, employing a cation-exchange membrane desalting device with water as the regenerating liquid. Mass chromatograms, acquiredafter hydrolysis of both bean samples for 12 h, showed two different profiles of hydrolysates. The P. mungo bean hydrolysate showed the presence of saccharides with a degree of polymerisation (DP) in the range of 2-6, whereas that of P. acutifilous showed only DPs of 2-5. Both bean samples had one type of DP 2, but showed different types of DPs 3, 4 and 5. Only the P. mungo sample showed the presence of DP 6. The most abundant fraction for P. mungo was DP 4, whereas that for P. acutifilous was DP 5. Tandem MS of the hydrolysates showed that the DP 2 hydrolysates observed for the samples were of the same type, having a 1,6 linkage. Also tandem MS data for DPs 3, 4, and 5 showed that similar hydrolysates were present within the same sample as well as among the two samples. The data also showed the existence of 1,6 linkages for DP 3, 4, and 5 hydrolysates. The single enzymatic hydrolysis in combination with microdialysis and HPAEC with ESI-MS proved to be sufficient and reproducible for profiling and showing the difference between the two bean samples.