Abstract: In order to understand the differences and changes of metabolites in large yellow croaker roe sauce during rapid fermentation, samples were collected over a fermentation period of 30 days and analyzed for metabolite composition by gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS). Multivariate statistical analysis was performed on the obtained data, and the differential metabolites were selected based on statistically significant difference at P ≤ 0.05 and the variable importance in the projection (VIP) of the first principal component (PC1) ≥ 1 in the orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis and were analyzed by hierarchical agglomerative clustering. The results showed that a total of 46 differential metabolites were identified, including 10 sugars, 9 alcohols, 7 of amino acids, 6 organic acids, 4 esters and 3 aldehydes, 1 fatty acid, and 6 other compounds. These metabolites were involved in the metabolic pathways of valine, leucine and isoleucine biosynthesis, protein digestion and absorption, galactose metabolism, ammonia acyl-tRNA biosynthesis, glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, glucosinolate biosynthesis, citric acid cycle, amino acid biosynthesis, shikimic acid-based biosynthesis of alkaloids, inositol phosphate metabolism, and biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids. Fifteen significantly differential metabolites were identified included amino acid metabolites involved in multiple metabolic pathways. The results of this study provide a theoretical basis for the industrial production of large yellow croaker roe sauce.

Key words: gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry; large yellow croaker; fish sauce; differential metabolite