Effects of extraction parameters on lipid profiling of mosses using UPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS and multivariate data analysis

Non-target lipid profiling by using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS) has been used extensively in the past decades in plant studies. However, the lipidomes of bryophytes have only been scarcely studied, although they are the second largest group in plant kingdom.

We evaluated the effects of different cell disruption methods (no disruption, shake, ultrasound, and bead beating), and storage conditions (air-dried, freeze-dried, and fresh frozen) of five moss species (including Racomitrium lanuginosum B and D, Philonotis fontana, Sphagnum teres, and Hylocomium splendens).

The lipid profiling results of each extraction parameter were analyzed by using multivariate data analysis including unsupervised principal component analysis and supervised orthogonal projections to latent structures discriminant analysis.

The results showed that extraction with bead beating resulted in the highest lipid content and the most detected features, but these were caused by the contamination from plastic tubes. Minor lipid metabolite changes were found in shaking and ultrasonication methods when compared with no disruption method. Significant amounts of phosphatidylcholine, diacylglyceryltrimethylhomoserine and their lyso lipids were observed in air-dried moss tissues, whereas diacylglycerol, triacylglycerol and ceramide were mostly exclusively detected when fresh frozen tissues were used for extraction.

We concluded that lipid extraction using fresh frozen samples with ultrasound assistance provide the most original lipid composition and gave a relatively high lipid content.