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Leaf Spray Mass Spectrometry: A Rapid Ambient Ionization Technique to Directly Assess Metabolites from Plant Tissues
Published on: June 21, 2018
Mass spectrometry-based fragmentation as an identification tool in lignomics
Kris Morreel1, Hoon Kim, Fachuang Lu
1Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium. kris.morreel@psb.vib-ugent.be
Analytical Chemistry
|August 28, 2010
Summary
Researchers characterized the lignome, a group of phenolic compounds related to lignin. They analyzed fragmentation patterns using mass spectrometry to identify these compounds and their structures directly from complex mixtures.
Area of Science:
- Plant Biochemistry
- Metabolomics
- Analytical Chemistry
Background:
- The lignome encompasses phenolics coregulated with lignin biosynthesis, including phenylpropanoids, monolignols, and lignans, forming a significant part of lignifying tissue metabolomes.
- Structural elucidation of unknown compounds is a major challenge in lignome characterization, hindering comprehensive analysis.
- Existing mass spectral libraries are scarce for metabolomics and non-existent for the lignome, limiting direct structural information retrieval from LC-MS data.
Purpose of the Study:
- To establish a foundation for systematic lignome characterization by elucidating gas-phase fragmentation behavior of key bonding types.
- To enable direct structural information extraction from liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) data, reducing the need for extensive purification.
- To facilitate MS-based sequencing of lignin oligomers and (neo)lignans.
Main Methods:
- Comparative MS(n) analysis was employed on molecules representing major lignome bonding structures.
- Specific bonding types analyzed include β-aryl ether, benzodioxane, phenylcoumaran, and resinol groups.
- Identification of characteristic fragmentations and aromatic units involved in these bonding structures.
Main Results:
- Typical fragmentations for β-aryl ether, benzodioxane, phenylcoumaran, and resinol bonding structures were successfully annotated.
- Fragmentations enabling the identification of aromatic units within these bonding structures were determined.
- This study provides crucial data for identifying and characterizing lignome components.
Conclusions:
- The elucidated fragmentation patterns provide a basis for detailed lignome characterization across various plant species, mutants, and transgenics.
- This work paves the way for MS-based sequencing of complex lignin-related molecules, including oligomers and (neo)lignans.
- Direct structural analysis of the lignome from LC-MS data is now more feasible, advancing plant metabolomics research.
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