FATTY ACID COMPOSITION OF FIVE MUSHROOM SPECIES BY GC AND GC-MS WITH A CHEMOMETRIC APPROACH

Fatty acids are recognized as energy sources and membrane components. The biological effects of the fatty acids are composed of influencing cell and tissue metabolism, and responding to hormonal and other signals. This study was planned to characterize the fatty acid compositions of five different mushrooms namely, Cerrena unicolor, Hymenochaete rubiginosa, Inocutis rheades, Leptoporus mollis, and Polyporus squamosus naturally distributed in Turkey by using gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of sixteen fatty acids were screened in the mushroom species. The most abundant fatty acids were recorded as linoleic (10.35-65.69%), oleic (12.03-53.27%), palmitic (12.68-21.16%), stearic (2.39-4.36%) and palmitoleic (1.40-4.26%) acids in all studied mushrooms. The amounts of unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) (60.02-80.70%) were calculated higher than saturated fatty acids (SFAs) (19.24-39.58%). The correlations or differences of the mushroom species with regard to fatty acid compositions were chemometrically investigated by using principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA). H. rubiginosa was separated with the highest amount of linoleic acid (65.69%) from other four mushroom species in both analyses.