Metabolite profiling of cereals-A promising tool for the assessment of grain quality and safety

Metabolite profiling represents an approach for the simultaneous detection, identification and quantification of a broad spectrum of low molecular weight metabolites in complex biological systems. The unbiased and non-targeted screening of metabolic profiles in combination with appropriate multivariate and univariate statistical tools enables the evaluation of genetics and environment-related impact factors on cereal grain quality and safety. In this context, the assessment of the extent of variation in the light of natural variability constitutes a major challenge. The application of metabolite profiling may also increase the probability to detect effects not intended by genetic modifications, e.g. through genetic engineering or mutation breeding. Untargeted metabolit profiling-based investigations of (i) genetically modified maize, (ii) rice mutants, and (iii) barley in the course of the malting process are presented demonstrating their suitability for the assessment of cereal grain quality and safety.