Tandem Mass Spectrometric Analysis and Cross-Species Comparison of Triacylglycerol Regioisomers in Mammalian Milk




Zhao, Qizhu; Fabritius, Mikael; Kalpio, Marika; Al Sazzad, Md Abdullah; Yang, Baoru

PublisherAmerican Chemical Society (ACS)

2026

 Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

74

1

1410

1421

0021-8561

1520-5118

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.5c08520

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.5c08520

https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/508477723



Milk fats have complex profiles of triacylglycerols (TG) with a significant gap in understanding the species-specific compositions of regioisomers. This study comprehensively analyzed TG regioisomers in milk of eight mammalian species using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry and a calculation algorithm. Distinct TG regioisomer profiles were observed across species, shaped by the phylogenetic status and the structure of digestive tracts (ruminants, pseudo-ruminants, and non-ruminants). The ruminants (cow, goat, and sheep) exhibited highly similar milk TG regioisomeric profiles, while the pseudo-ruminant (camel) showed similar profiles to those of the non-ruminants (dog, horse, human, and pig). The non-ruminants showed a sn-2 abundance of palmitic acid in milk TGs; especially dog and pig milk displayed TG regioisomer profiles close to that of human milk. These findings provide novel insights into cross-species variation in lipid metabolism and the nutritional properties of milk fats, supporting product development for food and early life nutrition.


The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Research Council of Finland (Decision No. 356891, Structures and functions of chiral lipids: A stereospecific and multiomics approach), Business Finland (Decision No. 1675/31/2023), the Research Council of Finland’s research infrastructure funding (Decision No. 337980), the European Union-NextGenerationEU instrument funding (RRF) for the FOODNUTRI National Infrastructure Network (Decision No. 345916), the Finland-China Food and Health Network, and the China Scholarship Council.


Last updated on 12/03/2026 12:20:07 PM