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Updated: Jan 3, 2026

Fatty Acid 13C Isotopologue Profiling Provides Insight into Trophic Carbon Transfer and Lipid Metabolism of Invertebrate Consumers
Published on: April 17, 2018
Carotenoid Isotopolog Profiling in 13C-Labeled Leaf Extracts by LC-MS and LC-FTICR-MS
Björn Thiele1,2, Shizue Matsubara3
1IBG-2: Plant Sciences, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany.
Abstract:
Mass spectrometry (MS)-based metabolite analysis combined with stable isotope labeling offers a powerful tool to study dynamic regulation of metabolic pathways and metabolite fluxes in biological systems. Here we describe a method to analyze the composition of carotenoid isotopologs in 13C-labeled leaf extracts by using liquid chromatography (LC)-MS and LC-Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR)-MS. High mass resolution of the latter enables unambiguous assignment of observed mass to a unique chemical formula. Based on peak intensity the relative abundance and the degree of 13C labeling are calculated for individual carotenoid isotopologs.

