Isolation and analysis of flavor-presenting substances and umami peptides from soybean and chicken peptides by consecutive chromatography and UPLC-MS/MS

Umami peptides can enhance the overall flavor of food, because of resource limitations and higher expenses, low-cost and resourceful plant peptides are required to replace some animal peptides as raw materials for the production of composite flavorings. In this study, the umami flavor components in chicken peptides (Pc) and soybean peptides (Pb) were isolated and characterized. The highest peptide content was found in the range of 196–500 Da. The sourness, salty, umami and umami-enhancing effects of Pb-3 and Pc-3 were positively correlated with malic, lactic, and succinic acid contents. Cytidylic acid (CMP), Guanylate (GMP), inosinc acid (IMP) and adenylic acid (AMP) were present in both Pb-3 and Pc-3, and their increased content improved the savory, umami and flavor of the samples. Histidine (His), tyrosine (Tyr), and isoleucine (Ile) had umami and umami-enhancing effects on Pc nanofiltration products; Tyr and Ile had umami and umami-enhancing effects on Pb nanofiltration isolates. Two peptides from chicken peptides, DPSNIK and RTEELEEA, and three peptides from soybean peptides, VTVE, LEKD and WER, were identified by UPLC-MS/MS. This finding lays the foundation for using plant-sourced peptides as potential replacements for animal-sourced peptides in the production of natural compound condiments.