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Products of lupin, a leguminous plant belonging to genus Lupinus, have high protein contents and are consumed in Mediterranean and Middle East countries. However, quinolizidine alkaloids (QAs) present in lupin have been reported to be toxic for humans and animals. Therefore, we carried out a quantitative determination of the QAs such as sparteine, angustifoline, lupanine, and 13-hydroxylupanine, which are known to be the major components in lupin and lupin products. The QAs were determined in three lupin products, namely, lupin beans, lupin cookies, and a lupin drink. The analysis was carried out using gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and the method was also validated. All of the QAs were eluted in 20 min, and the correlation coefficients were acceptable (R2 > 0.99). The limit of quantification in this method was lower than for a previously used capillary electrophoresis–mass spectrometric method. The total QA contents in lupin beans, lupin cookies, and lupin drink were 97.031, 4.786, and 67.887 µg/mL. Based on our results, it was concluded that these products were safe for consumption. It is believed that this method can be effectively used for the determination of QAs as GC-FID is a widely used technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taiwan experienced two waves of imported infections with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study aimed at investigating the genomic variation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Taiwan and compared their evolutionary trajectories with the global strains. We performed culture and full-genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 strains followed by phylogenetic analysis. A 382-nucleotides deletion in open reading frame 8 (ORF8) was found in a Taiwanese strain isolated from a patient on February 4, 2020 who had a travel history to Wuhan. Patients in the first wave also included several sporadic, local transmission cases. Genomes of 5 strains sequenced from clustered infections were classified into a new clade with ORF1ab-V378I mutation, in addition to 3 dominant clades ORF8-L84S, ORF3a-G251V and S-D614G. This highlighted clade also included some strains isolated from patients who had a travel history to Turkey and Iran. The second wave mostly resulted from patients who had a travel history to Europe and Americas. All Taiwanese viruses were classified into various clades. Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Taiwan revealed a new ORF8-deletion mutant and a virus clade that may be associated with infections in the Middle East, which contributed to a better understanding of the global SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics.