Oligosaccharide mass profiling of nutritionally important Salicornia brachiata, an extreme halophyte

Salicornia brachiata is an extreme halophyte, growing opulently in salt marshes and considered as potential alternative crop for seawater agriculture. Salicornia seeds are rich in protein and tender-shoots are eaten as salad greens. Total cell wall carbohydrate was isolated from seedlings, digested with β-glucanase enzyme cocktail and oligosaccharide mass profiling (OLIMP) was performed by using MALDI TOF-TOF mass spectroscopy. Salicornia OLIMP is represented by characteristic mass peaks m/z 477.3297–2094.4363. MS spectra exhibit xyloglucan oligosaccharide building blocks, dominated by XXXG (1084.9927 m/z). Characteristic mass peaks (m/z) of xyloglucan oligomers (XXG, XXFG, XLXG and XLFG) were also detected, which showed resemblance to the mass profile of highly nutritious plant soybean. The present study is the first report on OLIMP for any edible halophyte, so far. OLIMP supports use of Salicornia as a potential source of dietary supplementation. Further linkage-analysis is required to get the structural information of oligosaccharides.