A comparative study on the amino acid composition of 11 wild edible mushroom species (Suillus
bellini, Suillus luteus, Suillus granulatus, Tricholomopsis rutilans, Hygrophorus agathosmus, Amanita
rubescens, Russula cyanoxantha, Boletus edulis, Tricholoma equestre, Fistulina hepatica, and
Cantharellus cibarius) was developed. To define the qualitative and quantitative profiles, a derivatization
procedure with dabsyl chloride was performed, followed by HPLC-UV-vis analysis. Twenty
free amino acids (aspartic acid, glutamic acid, asparagine, glutamine, serine, threonine, glycine,
alanine, valine, proline, arginine, isoleucine, leucine, tryptophan, phenylalanine, cysteine, ornithine,
lysine, histidine, and tyrosine) were determined. B. edulis and T. equestre were revealed to be the
most nutritional species, whereas F. hepatica was the poorest. The different species exhibited distinct
free amino acid profiles. The quantification of the identified compounds indicated that, in a general
way, alanine was the major amino acid. The results show that the analyzed mushroom species possess
moderate amino acid contents, which may be relevant from a nutritional point of view because these
compounds are indispensable for human health. A combination of different mushroom species in the
diet would offer good amounts of amino acids and a great diversity of palatable sensations
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia for a grant(SFRH/BD/22108/2005)
