ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition and Food Science Technology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1691522
Characterizing the Enzyme-Driven Metabolic Shifts in Rancid Pearl Millet Flour using Metabolomics Approaches: A Step Towards Improving Quality and Shelf-Life
Provisionally accepted
Ranjeet Ranjan Kumar1*
Ashok Kumar2
Vinutha T1
Suneha Goswami1
Sudhir Kumar1
Sumer Pal Singh1
Manjunath Prasad C. T.1
Gyan P Mishra1
Jasdeep Chatrath Padaria3
GIRISH JHA4
Tara Satyavathi Chellapilla5
Viswanathan Chinnusamy1- 1Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR), New Delhi, India
- 2ICAR - Indian Agricultural Research Institute Jharkhand, Gauria Karma, India
- 3ICAR - National Institute for Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi, India
- 4ICAR - Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute, New Delhi, India
- 5ICAR - Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad, India
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Rancidity significantly limits the shelf-life and market potential of pearl millet flour and its processed food items, despite the grain’s nutritional superiority. This study employed a comprehensive metabolomic and biochemical approach to unravel the mechanisms underlying rancidity in pearl millet cultivars—Pusa-1201 (hybrid) and Chadhi Bajri (landrace). Untargeted LC-MS profiling revealed pronounced metabolic alterations in stored flour of Pusa-1201, with elevated levels of lipid degradation products (3-oxotetradecanoyl-CoA), pigments (chlorophyllide b), free fatty acids, etc. In contrast, Chadhi Bajri exhibited unique antioxidant and stress-protective metabolites (quercetin 3-sulfate, rosmarinate), indicating greater resistance to oxidative degradation. Enzymatic assays showed a storage-dependent increase in lipase, lipoxygenase, peroxidase, and polyphenol oxidase activities—particularly in Pusa-1201—correlating strongly with rancidity indices, including acid value (AV), peroxide value (PV), and free fatty acid content (FFA). Multivariate statistical analyses (PLS-DA, VIP plots, heat-maps) highlighted discriminatory metabolites contributing to rancidity progression and oxidative stress. A set of 25 metabolites, including phytol, ethanolamine, chlorophyllide b, and glucoside derivatives, emerged as key biomarkers of rancidity. These findings provide valuable insights for developing metabolite-based sensors to assess rancidity behaviour across diverse pearl millet accessions. Further, the information can be used to develop technology for enhancing flour’s stability and utilization in developing processed food products.
Keywords: Metabolomics, Rancidity, pearl millet, lipid oxidation, Flour
Received: 27 Aug 2025; Accepted: 10 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kumar, Kumar, T, Goswami, Kumar, Singh, Prasad C. T., Mishra, Padaria, JHA, Chellapilla and Chinnusamy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ranjeet Ranjan Kumar, ranjeetranjaniari@gmail.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.