Chemometric Approaches for the Characterization of the Fatty Acid Composition of Seventeen Mushroom Species

Abstract

Mushrooms have been used since ancient times because of their nutritional, medicinal and economic potential. In this study, fatty acid compositions of seventeen mushroom species, naturally growing in Turkey, were determined by using gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Totally, twenty-four fatty acids were identified in mushroom species. Generally, oleic (6.76-59.25%), linoleic (6.45-61.63%), palmitic (3.57-28.09%) and stearic (0.90-19.77%) acids were identified as the main fatty acids in all studied mushroom species. Principal component analyses (PCA) and hierarchical clustering analyses (HCA) were applied to analyze the chemometry of twenty-four fatty acids of the seventeen mushroom species by using Minitab 16.0 software. The main fatty acid compounds found in the mushrooms and their concentrations have been effective in distinguishing mushroom species from each other. As a result of PCA and HCA analysis, it was determined that Daedalea quercina (DQ) was distinctly separated from other mushroom species in terms of fatty acid composition. This study reveals that the chemometric analysis by PCA and HCA techniques could be used for the classification of the mushroom species according to their fatty acid compositions.