Analysis of Fatty Acid Methylesters (Fames) in Soybeans using Gas Chromatography With Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID)

Undergraduate #138
Discipline: Biological Sciences
Subcategory: Plant Research

Sarah Fernandes - Bowie State University
Co-Author(s): Anne Osano,Department of Natural Sciences; Bowie State University, MD; Savi Natarajan and Devanand Luthria, USDA-ARS, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, MD

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Glycine max, soybean is a major source of vegetable protein and oil. In this study, the purpose is to analyze the gamma radiated soybeans for its oil content. The hypothesis for this study is that gamma radiation will change the content of the oil. The oil was extracted from the ground seeds using hexane as solvent with ultra-sonication. The extracted oil was trans-esterified to the fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) using acidified methanol. The FAMEs composition of the extracted oil from the gamma radiated soybeans were analyzed using gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID). After analysis, seven major fatty acids were identified as myristic acid (14:0), palmitic acid (16:0), vaccenic acid (18:1, n-7), oleic acid (18:1, n-9), stearic acid (18: 0), linoleic acid (18:2, n-6), linolenic acid (18:3) in most soybeans. The results showed that the mutation impacted the composition of the oil. The oleic acid percentage varied between 16 and 33%, linolenic 42-60% and the linolenic acid changed between 6.0 to 9.0%. These results show that gamma radiation impacted the FAMEs profile of the soybean oil. We would like to further investigate FAMEs composition of the mutated soybean seeds grown over multiple time periods or seasons.

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Funder Acknowledgement(s): National Science Foundation.

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Anne Osano, aosano@bowiestate.edu

Role: I weighed the samples, did the extraction procedure which included addition of the solvent (hexane), vortex, sonication and centrifugation. Using the supernatant, evaporation was done with nitrogen gas followed by transesterification using acidified methanol. The samples were derivatized and analysis was done using Gas Chromatography with flame ionization detection.