Abstract: In order to identify the key taste components of Trachypenaeus curvirostris, the flavor characteristics of free amino acids, inorganic ions, quaternary ammonium compounds, saccharides, organic acids, nucleotides, glutathione in raw and cooked shrimps were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS), electronic tongue (EN) and taste recombination experiments based on sensomics. The results showed that the total content of free amino acids in shrimp increased by 19.79% from 1 165.94 to 1 396.64 mg/100 g after heat treatment, and the contents of Gly, Arg, Pro, Ser and Tau significantly increased. The contents of Na+ and Cl- were higher in cooked shrimp, and so were betaine, trimethylamine-N-oxide, nucleotide and their derivatives. In addition, the taste activity values (TAV) of glutamic acid, glycine, Na+, Cl-, lactic acid and 5’-IMP were greater than 1, indicating that they might be active compounds contributing to the taste of T. curvirostris. The results of taste recombination experiments showed that the flavor profile of the recombination model was similar to that of the natural extract. The key taste compounds identified were glutamic acid, glycine, alanine, tyrosine, arginine, 5’-IMP, 5’-GMP, Na+, K+, Cl-, betaine and trimethylamine-N-oxide. This study lays a theoretical foundation for the processing of T. curvirostris.

Key words: shrimp; heat treatment; taste components; molecular sensory science; taste recombination