International Journal of Mass Spectrometry 424 (2018) 27–34 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Mass Spectrometry jou rn al h om epage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijms Full Length Article Characterisation of yacon tuberous roots and leaves by DART-TOF/MS Aleˇ s Rajchl a,∗ , Eloy Fernández Cusimamani b , Jana Prchalová a , Rudolf ˇ Sevˇ cík a , Helena ˇ Cíˇ zková a , Jana ˇ Ziarovská c , Michaela Hrdliˇ cková b a Department of Food Preservation, Faculty of Food and Biochemical Technology, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 3, 166 28 Prague 6 – Dejvice, Czech Republic b Department of Crop Sciences and Agroforestry, Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, Kam´ ycká 129, 165 21 Prague 6 – Suchdol, Czech Republic c Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Tr. A. Hlinku 2, 949 76 Nitra, Slovak Republic a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 30 March 2017 Received in revised form 7 November 2017 Accepted 7 November 2017 Available online 22 November 2017 Keywords: Smallanthus sonchifolius Statistical analysis PCA LDA DART a b s t r a c t Yacon [Smallanthus sonchifolius (Poepp. et Endl.) H. Robinson] is a plant grown worldwide originating in the Andes region. Yacon is grown for its sweet tuberous roots and leaves used for the preparation of herbal infusions. Twenty-six yacon landraces’ leaves and roots (both peeled and unpeeled) have been analysed by DART-TOF/MS. The method has been optimised and the fingerprints of the mass spectra have been statistically processed by PCA and LDA statistical analysis. The DART method has succeeded in differentiating between the yacon landraces according to their genotype and geographical origin. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Yacon [Smallanthus sonchifolius (Poepp. et Endl.) H. Robinson] from the Asteraceae botanical family is a native plant of the Andes region, where it is cultivated for its sweet tuberous roots. The roots contain fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and inulin, which are best- known as sources of prebiotics with a positive effect on human health [1,2]. The yacon leaves and tuberous roots are rich in polyphenols [3]. The polyphenolic component of the yacon leaves have a strong antioxidant effect; yacon leaves can, therefore, be used in the human diet to prevent chronic diseases [4]. Yacon is eaten raw as a fruit and is prized for its sweetness, mainly by chil- dren. In the Andean region, yacon is cultivated from Colombia to Argentina, mostly in small areas and for the farmer’s own consump- tion. Peru, is the country with the largest biodiversity of yacon. In Peru, more than 200 accessions have been found, while in Bolivia and Ecuador, 40 and 32 accessions have been observed, respectively [5]. Due to its attributes, yacon has expanded to other regions out- side the Andes. Currently, it is grown in Brazil, the Czech Republic, China, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, Russia, South Korea, ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: ales.rajchl@vscht.cz (A. Rajchl). the U.S.A and other countries [6–10]. The Czech Republic has 26 accessions; it is the largest collection outside of the Andean region. There is huge morphological, chemical and molecular variability in yacon [11]. The yacon tuberous root flesh colour can be white, cream, white with purple striations, purple, pink or yellow. Their skin can be brown, pink, purple, cream, or ivory white, and contains resin tubes filled with yellow crystals. These properties are typi- cal for all genotypes [12,13]. The total saccharide content in the yacon tuberous roots (80.62–224.7 g/kg dm.) [1], the FOS content (2.1–70.8 g/100 g dm.) [14] and the content of the total phenols in the leaves and tuberous roots are influenced by the genotype [3,15]. DART (Direct Analysis in Real Time) is a novel ionisation tech- nique of mass spectrometry. DART principles and advantages have been well described in literature [16–18]. This technique is used for the inspection of food and raw food materials. Possible applica- tions of the DART-TOF/MS technique are summarised in literature [16,19]. The aim of this work was to characterise the tuberous roots and leaves of 26 yacon accessions with the DART-TOF/MS technique. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijms.2017.11.005 1387-3806/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.