SILICO-MS: Exploring Structural Lipidomic Alterations Using an Ionization-Coupled Ozonolysis Mass Spectrometry...

Area of Science:

• Lipidomics
• Mass Spectrometry
• Biochemistry

Background:

• Lipid structural features, particularly carbon-carbon double bond positions, influence crucial biochemical and biophysical processes.
• Traditional lipidomic analyses lack detailed structural information, hindering the study of lipid isomers.
• Existing lipid structure characterization methods face limitations due to hardware and software accessibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an accessible and user-friendly method for detailed lipid structural characterization.
• To create a comprehensive database for identifying lipid isomers and their double bond positions.
• To advance the field of structural lipidomics for better understanding of lipid-related disorders.

Main Methods:

• Development of an ionization-coupled ozonolysis mass spectrometry technique.
• Creation of the SILICO-MS software and an ozonolysis lipidome database with 222,460 C═C double bond lipid isomers.
• Utilized the method to identify a novel stearoyl-coenzyme A desaturase 1 (SCD1)-catalyzed product.

Main Results:

• The SILICO-MS database covers 10 times more lipid isomers with C═C double bond information than previously published databases.
• Successfully identified a previously unreported oleic acid isomer, C18:1(Δ-6), as an SCD1 product.
• Demonstrated the capability of the method for comprehensive structural characterization of lipids.

Conclusions:

• The developed ionization-coupled ozonolysis approach provides a powerful tool for detailed lipid structural analysis.
• This method and its accompanying software/database overcome limitations in current structural lipidomics.
• Comprehensive lipid structural characterization can reveal new mechanisms in diseases associated with lipid isomer alterations.