Standardization and determination of marker compounds characterizing mature silkworm (Bombyx mori) powder

Abstract

Here we report a specific method for the determination and validation of distinguishable standard marker compounds and processed mature silkworm powder with the aim of standardizing the powder to uniformly control it as a raw functional food ingredient. The content of three specific amino acids–serine, glycine, and alanine–were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography. The compounds met the requirement of marker compounds due to their unique repetitive amino acid sequence. The variations of the amounts of serine, glycine, and alanine in the powder were considered to depend on the cultivation and production conditions of the raw ingredient with the sum of three amino acid contents giving the unique quantitative marker compound level.