Mass Spectrometry-Based Untargeted Plant Metabolomics

Area of Science:

• Metabolomics
• Systems Biology
• Analytical Chemistry

Background:

• Metabolomics, driven by mass spectrometry (MS), is crucial for systems biology, offering high sensitivity and throughput.
• Untargeted metabolomics enables deep investigation of metabolic phenotypes by analyzing hundreds to thousands of metabolites.
• This approach generates complex data requiring sophisticated processing and analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a comprehensive guide to metabolite extraction and analysis using chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry.
• To detail the intricacies of processing and analyzing complex untargeted metabolomics datasets.
• To cover various protocols including LC-MS, GC-MS, lipid analysis, and metabolite annotation.

Main Methods:

• Metabolite extraction protocols (LC-MS, MTBE for multiple platforms).
• Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS, GC-MS) analysis.
• Data processing, analysis, metabolite annotation, and molecular networking.

Main Results:

• Detailed protocols for various metabolomics techniques are presented.
• The complexity of untargeted metabolomics data processing is addressed.
• Methods for metabolite annotation and molecular networking are discussed.

Conclusions:

• This article provides essential protocols for untargeted metabolomics studies.
• Effective data processing and analysis are critical for extracting meaningful insights from complex metabolomics data.
• The presented methods facilitate a deeper understanding of metabolic phenotypes in systems biology.