Detection of Chitooligosaccharides in Korean Soybean Paste by Tandem Immunoaffinity-ELISA

In order to detect chitooligosaccharides (COS) in soybean paste, tandem immunoaffinity chromatography and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were developed. Polyclonal anti-chitooligosaccharides mixture (CaSM) antibody specific to COSM was attached to Sepharose gel for initial sample cleanup and concentration of COS in soybean paste. COS was eluted and quantified by competitive direct ELISA (cdELISA). Average ELISA recoveries from the column using binding buffer spiked with COSM at levels of 0.5, 2.0, 5.0, and $10.0\mu$g/ml were 79.8, 72.0, 77.7, and 60.6%, respectively, with a mean recovery of 72.5%. Mean inter-well and inter-assay coefficients of variation (CV) were 7.7% and 10.3%, respectively. Average recoveries from soybean paste spiked with COSM at levels of 2, 6, 20, and $60\mu$g/g were 115, 91.7, 91, and 73.3%, respectively, with a mean recovery of 92.8%. Mean inter-well and inter-assay CV were 12.9% and 16%, respectively. The COS was detected from 24 out of 25 homemade Korean soybean paste samples at an average of $14.0\mu$g/g (n, 25; range, $0-51.2 \mu$g/g) and from 13 out of 14 commercially made soybean paste samples at an average of $4.1\mu$g/g(n, 14; range, $0-18.4\mu$g/g). The tandem immunoaffinity chromatography-cdELISA that was developed in this study showed that the level of COS eluted from homemade soybean paste was higher than that of the commercially made ones. In addition, the level of COS eluted from commercially available soybean paste in Korea was higher than that of the ones in Japan.