GC-EI-TOF-MS analysis of in vivo carbon-partitioning into soluble metabolite pools of higher plants by monitoring isotope dilution after 13CO2 labelling

Leaf day respiration involves multiple carbon sources and depends on previous dark metabolism

Day respiration (Rd) is the metabolic, nonphotorespiratory process by which illuminated leaves liberate CO2 during photosynthesis. Rd is used routinely in photosynthetic models and is thus critical for calculations. However, metabolic details associated with Rd are poorly known, and this can be problematic to predict how Rd changes with environmental conditions and relates to night respiration. It is often assumed that day respiratory CO2 release just reflects 'ordinary' catabolism (glycolysis and Krebs 'cycle'). Here, we carried out a pulse-chase experiment, whereby a 13CO2 pulse in the light was followed by a chase period in darkness and then in the light. We took advantage of nontargeted, isotope-assisted metabolomics to determine non-'ordinary' metabolism, detect carbon remobilisation and compare light and dark 13C utilisation. We found that several concurrent metabolic pathways ('ordinary' catabolism, oxidative pentose phosphates pathway, amino acid production, nucleotide biosynthesis and secondary metabolism) took place in the light and participated in net CO2 efflux associated with day respiration. Flux reconstruction from metabolomics leads to an underestimation of Rd, further suggesting the contribution of a variety of CO2-evolving processes. Also, the cornerstone of the Krebs 'cycle', citrate, is synthetised de novo from photosynthates mostly in darkness, and remobilised or synthesised from stored material in the light. Collectively, our data provides direct evidence that leaf day respiration (i) involves several CO2-producing reactions and (ii) is fed by different carbon sources, including stored carbon disconnected from current photosynthates.

Investigating the Metabolism of Plants Germinated in Heavy Water, D2O, and H218O-Enriched Media Using High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry

Mass spectrometry has been an essential technique for the investigation of the metabolic pathways of living organisms since its appearance at the beginning of the 20th century. Due to its capability to resolve isotopically labeled species, it can be applied together with stable isotope tracers to reveal the transformation of particular biologically relevant molecules. However, low-resolution techniques, which were used for decades, had limited capabilities for untargeted metabolomics, especially when a large number of compounds are labelled simultaneously. Such untargeted studies may provide new information about metabolism and can be performed with high-resolution mass spectrometry. Here, we demonstrate the capabilities of high-resolution mass spectrometry to obtain insights on the metabolism of a model plant, Lepidium sativum, germinated in D2O and H218O-enriched media. In particular, we demonstrated that in vivo labeling with heavy water helps to identify if a compound is being synthesized at a particular stage of germination or if it originates from seed content, and tandem mass spectrometry allows us to highlight the substructures with incorporated isotope labels. Additionally, we found in vivo labeling useful to distinguish between isomeric compounds with identical fragmentation patterns due to the differences in their formation rates that can be compared by the extent of heavy atom incorporation.

Different photorespiratory mechanisms in conifer leaves, where peroxisomes have intrinsically low catalase activity

Photorespiration is an essential metabolic mechanism associated with photosynthesis; however, little is known about the photorespiratory pathway of conifer gymnosperms. Metabolite analyses of the leaves of 27 tree species showed that the mean glycerate content in conifer leaves was lower than that in angiosperm leaves. We performed experiments where [13 C]-serine was fed to detached shoots of a conifer (Cryptomeria japonica), via the transpiration stream, and compared the labeling patterns of photorespiratory metabolites with those of an angiosperm tree (Populus nigra), because glycerate is produced from serine via hydroxypyruvate in peroxisomes. In P. nigra, hydroxypyruvate, glycerate and glycine were labeled with 13 C, whereas in C. japonica, glycolate and a non-canonical photorespiratory metabolite, formate, were also labeled, suggesting that an H2 O2 -mediated non-enzymatic decarboxylation (NED) reaction occurs in C. japonica. We analyzed changes in the metabolite contents of leaves kept in the dark and leaves exposed to illuminated photorespiration-promoting conditions: a positive relationship between formate and serine levels in C. japonica implied that the active C1 -metabolism pathway synthesizes serine from formate. Leaf gas exchange analyses revealed that CO2 produced through NED was recaptured by chloroplasts. Database analysis of the peroxisomal targeting signal motifs of an H2 O2 -scavenging enzyme, catalase, derived from various species, including nine coniferous species, as well as analyses of peroxisomal fractions isolated from C. japonica and P. nigra leaves indicated that conifer peroxisomes had less catalase activity. These results suggest that NED and the subsequent C1 metabolism are involved in the photorespiratory pathway of conifer leaves, where peroxisomes have intrinsically low catalase activity.

Combination of long-term 13CO2 labeling and isotopolog profiling allows turnover analysis of photosynthetic pigments in Arabidopsis leaves

BACKGROUND

Living cells maintain and adjust structural and functional integrity by continual synthesis and degradation of metabolites and macromolecules. The maintenance and adjustment of thylakoid membrane involve turnover of photosynthetic pigments along with subunits of protein complexes. Quantifying their turnover is essential to understand the mechanisms of homeostasis and long-term acclimation of photosynthetic apparatus. Here we report methods combining whole-plant long-term ¹³CO₂ labeling and liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis to determine the size of non-labeled population (NLP) of carotenoids and chlorophylls (Chl) in leaf pigment extracts of partially ¹³C-labeled plants.

RESULTS

The labeling chamber enabled parallel ¹³CO₂ labeling of up to 15 plants of Arabidopsis thaliana with real-time environmental monitoring ([CO₂], light intensity, temperature, relative air humidity and pressure) and recording. No significant difference in growth or photosynthetic pigment composition was found in leaves after 7-d exposure to normal CO₂ (~ 400 ppm) or ¹³CO₂ in the labeling chamber, or in ambient air outside the labeling chamber (control). Following chromatographic separation of the pigments and mass peak assignment by high-resolution Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance MS, mass spectra of photosynthetic pigments were analyzed by triple quadrupole MS to calculate NLP. The size of NLP remaining after the 7-d ¹³CO₂ labeling was ~ 10.3% and ~ 11.5% for all-trans- and 9-cis-β-carotene, ~ 21.9% for lutein, ~ 18.8% for Chl a and 33.6% for Chl b, highlighting non-uniform turnover of these pigments in thylakoids. Comparable results were obtained in all replicate plants of the ¹³CO₂ labeling experiment except for three that were showing anthocyanin accumulation and growth impairment due to insufficient water supply (leading to stomatal closure and less ¹³C incorporation).

CONCLUSIONS

Our methods allow ¹³CO₂ labeling and estimation of NLP for photosynthetic pigments with high reproducibility despite potential variations in [¹³CO₂] between the experiments. The results indicate distinct turnover rates of carotenoids and Chls in thylakoid membrane, which can be investigated in the future by time course experiments. Since ¹³C enrichment can be measured in a range of compounds, long-term ¹³CO₂ labeling chamber, in combination with appropriate MS methods, facilitates turnover analysis of various metabolites and macromolecules in plants on a time scale of hours to days.

Grape ASR Regulates Glucose Transport, Metabolism and Signaling

To decipher the mediator role of the grape Abscisic acid, Stress, Ripening (ASR) protein, VvMSA, in the pathways of glucose signaling through the regulation of its target, the promoter of hexose transporter VvHT1, we overexpressed and repressed VvMSA in embryogenic and non-embryogenic grapevine cells. The embryogenic cells with organized cell proliferation were chosen as an appropriate model for high sensitivity to the glucose signal, due to their very low intracellular glucose content and low glycolysis flux. In contrast, the non-embryogenic cells displaying anarchic cell proliferation, supported by high glycolysis flux and a partial switch to fermentation, appeared particularly sensitive to inhibitors of glucose metabolism. By using different glucose analogs to discriminate between distinct pathways of glucose signal transduction, we revealed VvMSA positioning as a transcriptional regulator of the glucose transporter gene VvHT1 in glycolysis-dependent glucose signaling. The effects of both the overexpression and repression of VvMSA on glucose transport and metabolism via glycolysis were analyzed, and the results demonstrated its role as a mediator in the interplay of glucose metabolism, transport and signaling. The overexpression of VvMSA in the Arabidopsis mutant abi8 provided evidence for its partial functional complementation by improving glucose absorption activity.

An efficient LC-MS method for isomer separation and detection of sugars, phosphorylated sugars, and organic acids

Assessing central carbon metabolism in plants can be challenging due to the dynamic range in pool sizes, with low levels of important phosphorylated sugars relative to more abundant sugars and organic acids. Here, we report a sensitive liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method for analysing central metabolites on a hybrid column, where both anion-exchange and hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) ligands are embedded in the stationary phase. The liquid chromatography method was developed for enhanced selectivity of 27 central metabolites in a single run with sensitivity at femtomole levels observed for most phosphorylated sugars. The method resolved phosphorylated hexose, pentose, and triose isomers that are otherwise challenging. Compared with a standard HILIC approach, these metabolites had improved peak areas using our approach due to ion enhancement or low ion suppression in the biological sample matrix. The approach was applied to investigate metabolism in high lipid-producing tobacco leaves that exhibited increased levels of acetyl-CoA, a precursor for oil biosynthesis. The application of the method to isotopologue detection and quantification was considered through evaluating 13C-labeled seeds from Camelina sativa. The method provides a means to analyse intermediates more comprehensively in central metabolism of plant tissues.

Design and fabrication of an improved dynamic flow cuvette for 13CO2 labeling in Arabidopsis plants

BACKGROUND

Stable isotope labeling is a non-invasive, sensitive means of monitoring metabolic flux in plants. The most physiologically meaningful information is obtained from experiments that take advantage of the natural photosynthetic carbon assimilation pathway to introduce a traceable marker with minimal effects on the physiology of the organism. The fundamental substrate in isotopic labeling experiments is ¹³CO₂, which can reveal the earliest events in carbon assimilation and realistically portray downstream metabolism when administered under conditions suitable for making kinetic inferences. Efforts to improve the accuracy and resolution of whole plant labeling techniques have focused on improvements in environmental control, air flow characteristics, and harvesting methods.

RESULTS

Here we present a dynamic flow cuvette designed for single Arabidopsis thaliana labeling experiments. We have also verified its suitability for labeling Nicotiana benthamiana and essential oils in Pelargonium graveolens. Complete plans for fabrication of this device are included. The design includes three important innovations. First, uniform, circular air flow over the rosette surface is accomplished by a fan and deflector that creates a mini-cyclone effect within the chamber interior. Second, a network of circulating canals connected to a water bath provides temperature control to within ± 0.1 ºC under variable irradiance, humidity, and air flow conditions. When photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) was varied over a range of 1000 μEinsteins m^-2 s^-1 with no adjustment to the external temperature control system, the abaxial leaf temperature changed by < 3 ºC/1000 PAR. Third, the device is fully compatible with liquid nitrogen quenching of metabolic activity without perturbation of the light environment. For short labeling experiments (< 10 s), the most critical variable is the half-life (t_1/2) of the atmosphere within the chamber, which determines the maximum resolution of the labeling system. Using an infrared gas analyzer, we monitored the atmospheric half-life during the transition from ¹²CO₂ to ¹³CO₂ air at different flow rates and determined that 3.5 L min^-1 is the optimal flow rate to initiate labeling (t_1/2 ~ 5 s). Under these conditions, we observed linear incorporation of ¹³C into triose phosphate with labeling times as short as 5 s.

CONCLUSIONS

Advances in our ability to conduct short term labeling experiments are critical to understanding of the rates and control of the earliest steps in plant metabolism. Precise kinetic measurements in whole plants using ¹³CO₂ inform metabolic models and reveal control points that can be exploited in agricultural or biotechnological contexts. The dynamic labeling cuvette presented here is suitable for studying early events in carbon assimilation and provides high resolution kinetic data for studies of metabolism in intact plants under physiologically realistic scenarios.

Establishment of a GC-MS-based 13 C-positional isotopomer approach suitable for investigating metabolic fluxes in plant primary metabolism

¹³ C-Metabolic flux analysis (¹³ C-MFA) has greatly contributed to our understanding of plant metabolic regulation. However, the generation of detailed in vivo flux maps remains a major challenge. Flux investigations based on nuclear magnetic resonance have resolved small networks with high accuracy. Mass spectrometry (MS) approaches have broader potential, but have hitherto been limited in their power to deduce flux information due to lack of atomic level position information. Herein we established a gas chromatography (GC) coupled to MS-based approach that provides ¹³ C-positional labelling information in glucose, malate and glutamate (Glu). A map of electron impact (EI)-mediated MS fragmentation was created and validated by ¹³ C-positionally labelled references via GC-EI-MS and GC-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-MS technologies. The power of the approach was revealed by analysing previous ¹³ C-MFA data from leaves and guard cells, and ¹³ C-HCO₃ labelling of guard cells harvested in the dark and after the dark-to-light transition. We demonstrated that the approach is applicable to established GC-EI-MS-based ¹³ C-MFA without the need for experimental adjustment, but will benefit in the future from paired analyses by the two GC-MS platforms. We identified specific glucose carbon atoms that are preferentially labelled by photosynthesis and gluconeogenesis, and provide an approach to investigate the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPc)-derived ¹³ C-incorporation into malate and Glu. Our results suggest that gluconeogenesis and the PEPc-mediated CO₂ assimilation into malate are activated in a light-independent manner in guard cells. We further highlight that the fluxes from glycolysis and PEPc toward Glu are restricted by the mitochondrial thioredoxin system in illuminated leaves.

Assessing Protein Synthesis and Degradation Rates in Arabidopsis thaliana Using Amino Acid Analysis

Plants continually synthesize and degrade proteins, for example, to adjust protein content during development or during adaptation to new environments. In order to estimate global protein synthesis and degradation rates in plants, we developed a relatively simple and inexpensive method using a combination of ¹³ CO₂ labeling and mass spectrometry-based analyses. Arabidopsis thaliana plants are subjected to a 24-hr ¹³ CO₂ pulse followed by a 4-day ¹² CO₂ chase. Soluble alanine and serine from total protein and glucose from cell wall material are analyzed by gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS) and their ¹³ C enrichment (%) is estimated. The rate of protein synthesis during the ¹³ CO₂ pulse experiment is defined as the rate of incorporation of labeled amino acids into proteins normalized by a correction factor for incomplete enrichment in free amino acid pools. The rate of protein degradation is estimated as the difference between the rate of protein synthesis and the relative growth rate calculated using the ¹³ C enrichment of glucose from cell wall material. Degradation rates are also estimated from the ¹² CO₂ pulse experiment. The following method description includes setting up and performing labeling experiments, preparation and measurement of samples, and calculation steps. In addition, an R script is provided for the calculations. 2021 The Authors. Current Protocols published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. Basic Protocol 1: Setting up the ¹³ CO₂ labeling system and stable isotope labeling of Arabidopsis thaliana rosette leaves Basic Protocol 2: Extraction of soluble amino acids for GC-TOF-MS analysis Basic Protocol 3: Preparation of amino acids from total protein for GC-TOF-MS analysis Basic Protocol 4: Preparation of sugars from cell wall material for GC-TOF-MS analysis Basis Protocol 5: GC-TOF-MS analysis of ¹³ C-labeled samples and estimation of ¹³ C enrichment (%) Basis Protocol 6: Estimation of protein synthesis and degradation rates.

Multiplexed Profiling and Data Processing Methods to Identify Temperature-Regulated Primary Metabolites Using Gas Chromatography Coupled to Mass Spectrometry

This book chapter describes the analytical procedures required for the profiling of a metabolite fraction enriched for primary metabolites. The profiling is based on routine gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The generic profiling method is adapted to plant material, specifically to the analysis of plant material that was exposed to temperature stress. The method can be combined with stable isotope labeling and tracing experiments and is equally applicable to preparations of plant material and microbial photosynthetic organisms. The described methods are modular and can be multiplexed, that is, the same sample or a paired identical backup sample can be analyzed sequentially by more than one of the described procedures. The modules include rapid sampling and metabolic inactivation protocols for samples in a wide weight range, sample extraction procedures, chemical derivatization steps that are required to make the metabolite fraction amenable to gas chromatographic analysis, routine GC-MS methods, and procedures of data processing and data mining. A basic and extendable set of standardizations for metabolite recovery and retention index alignment of the resulting GC-MS chromatograms is included. The methods have two applications: (1) The rapid screening for changes of relative metabolite pools sizes under temperature stress and (2) the verification by exact quantification using GC-MS protocols that are extended by internal and external standardization.

Preparation of uniformly labelled 13C- and 15N-plants using customised growth chambers

BACKGROUND

Stable isotopically labelled organisms have found wide application in life science research including plant physiology, plant stress and defense as well as metabolism related sciences. Therefore, the reproducible production of plant material enriched with stable isotopes such as ¹³C and ¹⁵N is of considerable interest. A high degree of enrichment (> 96 atom %) with a uniformly distributed isotope (global labelling) is accomplished by a continuous substrate supply during plant growth/cultivation. In the case of plants, ¹³C-labelling can be achieved by growth in ¹³CO_2(g) atmosphere while global ¹⁵N-labelling needs ¹⁵N- containing salts in the watering/nutrient solution. Here, we present a method for the preparation of ¹³C and ¹⁵N-labelled plants by the use of closed growth chambers and hydroponic nutrient supply. The method is exemplified with durum wheat.

RESULTS

In total, 330 g of globally ¹³C- and 295 g of ¹⁵N-labelled Triticum durum wheat was produced during 87 cultivation days. For this, a total of 3.88 mol of ¹³CO_2(g) and 58 mmol of ¹⁵N were consumed. The degree of enrichment was determined by LC-HRMS and ranged between 96 and 98 atom % for ¹³C and 95-99 atom % for ¹⁵N, respectively. Additionally, the isotopically labelled plant extracts were successfully used for metabolome-wide internal standardisation of native T.durum plants. Application of an isotope-assisted LC-HRMS workflow enabled the detection of 652 truly wheat-derived metabolites out of which 143 contain N.

CONCLUSION

A reproducible cultivation which makes use of climate chambers and hydroponics was successfully adapted to produce highly enriched, uniformly ¹³C- and ¹⁵N-labelled wheat. The obtained plant material is suitable to be used in all kinds of isotope-assisted research. The described technical equipment and protocol can easily be applied to other plants to produce ¹³C-enriched biological samples when the necessary specific adaptations e.g. temperature and light regime, as well as nutrient supply are considered. Additionally, the ¹⁵N-labelling method can also be carried out under regular glasshouse conditions without the need for customised atmosphere.

Metabolic acclimation-a key to enhancing photosynthesis in changing environments?

Plants adjust their photosynthetic capacity in response to their environment in a way that optimizes their yield and fitness. There is growing evidence that this acclimation is a response to changes in the leaf metabolome, but the extent to which these are linked and how this is optimized remain poorly understood. Using as an example the metabolic perturbations occurring in response to cold, we define the different stages required for acclimation, discuss the evidence for a metabolic temperature sensor, and suggest further work towards designing climate-smart crops. In particular, we discuss how constraint-based and kinetic metabolic modelling approaches can be used to generate targeted hypotheses about relevant pathways, and argue that a stronger integration of experimental and in silico studies will help us to understand the tightly regulated interplay of carbon partitioning and resource allocation required for photosynthetic acclimation to different environmental conditions.

Advances in metabolic flux analysis toward genome-scale profiling of higher organisms

Methodological and technological advances have recently paved the way for metabolic flux profiling in higher organisms, like plants. However, in comparison with omics technologies, flux profiling has yet to provide comprehensive differential flux maps at a genome-scale and in different cell types, tissues, and organs. Here we highlight the recent advances in technologies to gather metabolic labeling patterns and flux profiling approaches. We provide an opinion of how recent local flux profiling approaches can be used in conjunction with the constraint-based modeling framework to arrive at genome-scale flux maps. In addition, we point at approaches which use metabolomics data without introduction of label to predict either non-steady state fluxes in a time-series experiment or flux changes in different experimental scenarios. The combination of these developments allows an experimentally feasible approach for flux-based large-scale systems biology studies.

A Flexible Low Cost Hydroponic System for Assessing Plant Responses to Small Molecules in Sterile Conditions

A wide range of studies in plant biology are performed using hydroponic cultures. In this work, an in vitro hydroponic growth system designed for assessing plant responses to chemicals and other substances of interest is presented. This system is highly efficient in obtaining homogeneous and healthy seedlings of the C3 and C4 model species Arabidopsis thaliana and Setaria viridis, respectively. The sterile cultivation avoids algae and microorganism contamination, which are known limiting factors for plant normal growth and development in hydroponics. In addition, this system is scalable, enabling the harvest of plant material on a large scale with minor mechanical damage, as well as the harvest of individual parts of a plant if desired. A detailed protocol demonstrating that this system has an easy and low-cost assembly, as it uses pipette racks as the main platform for growing plants, is provided. The feasibility of this system was validated using Arabidopsis seedlings to assess the effect of the drug AZD-8055, a chemical inhibitor of the target of rapamycin (TOR) kinase. TOR inhibition was efficiently detected as early as 30 min after an AZD-8055 treatment in roots and shoots. Furthermore, AZD-8055-treated plants displayed the expected starch-excess phenotype. We proposed this hydroponic system as an ideal method for plant researchers aiming to monitor the action of plant inducers or inhibitors, as well as to assess metabolic fluxes using isotope-labeling compounds which, in general, requires the use of expensive reagents.

High Enrichment [13 C]-Labeling of Plants Grown Hydroponically from Seed to Seed in a Controlled 13 C-Carbon Dioxide Atmosphere Enclosure

In vivo isotopic labeling empowers proteomic and metabolomic analyses to resolve relationships between the molecular composition, environment, and phenotype of an organism. Carbon-13 is particularly useful for plant labeling as it can be introduced via 13 CO2 gas and readily assimilated into plant metabolic systems through natural carbon fixation. While short-term labeling experiments can be performed within a simple sealed enclosure, long-term growth in an isolated environment raises many challenges beyond nutrient availability and buildup of metabolic waste. Viable growth conditions must be maintained by means that do not compromise the integrity of the carbon-13 enrichment. To address these issues, an automated growth chamber equipped with countermeasures to neutralize stresses and ensure high isotopic enrichment throughout the life cycle of the plant has been developed. The following describes this growth chamber and its use in an example 130-day growth of ten soybean plants to full maturity, achieving 100% carbon-13 enrichment of new seed tissue. © 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Comparative metabolomics and glycolysis enzyme profiling of embryogenic and nonembryogenic grape cells

A novel biological model was created for the comparison of grapevine embryogenic cells (EC) and nonembryogenic cells (NEC) sharing a common genetic background but distinct phenotypes, when cultured on their respective most appropriate media. Cytological characterization, ¹H-NMR analysis of intracellular metabolites, and glycolytic enzyme activities provided evidence for the marked metabolic differences between EC and NEC. The EC were characterized by a moderate and organized cell proliferation, coupled with a low flux through glycolysis, high capacity of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase and glucokinase, and high oxygen consumption. The NEC displayed strong anarchic growth, and their high rate of glycolysis due to the low energetic efficiency of the fermentative metabolism is confirmed by increased enolase capacity and low oxygen consumption.

Pathway-specific metabolome analysis with 18O2-labeled Medicago truncatula via a mass spectrometry-based approach

INTRODUCTION

Oxygen from carbon dioxide, water or molecular oxygen, depending on the responsible enzyme, can lead to a large variety of metabolites through chemical modification.

OBJECTIVES

Pathway-specific labeling using isotopic molecular oxygen (¹⁸O₂) makes it possible to determine the origin of oxygen atoms in metabolites and the presence of biosynthetic enzymes (e.g., oxygenases). In this study, we established the basis of ¹⁸O₂-metabolome analysis.

METHODS

¹⁸O₂ labeled whole Medicago truncatula seedlings were prepared using ¹⁸O₂-air and an economical sealed-glass bottle system. Metabolites were analyzed using high-accuracy and high-resolution mass spectrometry. Identification of the metabolite was confirmed by NMR following UHPLC-solid-phase extraction (SPE).

RESULTS

A total of 511 peaks labeled by ¹⁸O₂ from shoot and 343 peaks from root were annotated by untargeted metabolome analysis. Additionally, we identified a new flavonoid, apigenin 4'-O-[2'-O-coumaroyl-glucuronopyranosyl-(1-2)-O-glucuronopyranoside], that was labeled by ¹⁸O₂. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of apigenin 4'-glucuronide in M. truncatula. Using MSⁿ analysis, we estimated that ¹⁸O atoms were specifically incorporated in apigenin, the coumaroyl group, and glucuronic acid. For apigenin, an ¹⁸O atom was incorporated in the 4'-hydroxy group. Thus, non-specific incorporation of an ¹⁸O atom by recycling during one month of labeling is unlikely compared with the more specific oxygenase-catalyzing reaction.

CONCLUSION

Our finding indicated that ¹⁸O₂ labeling was effective not only for the mining of unknown metabolites which were biosynthesized by oxygenase-related pathway but also for the identification of metabolites whose oxygen atoms were derived from oxygenase activity.

Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry-Based 13C-Labeling Studies in Plant Metabolomics

Stable-isotope labeling analysis has been used to discover new metabolic pathways and their key regulatory points in a wide range of organisms. Given the complexity of the plant metabolic network, this analysis provides information complementary to that obtained from metabolite profiling that can be used to understand how plants cope with adverse conditions, and how metabolism varies between different cells, tissues, and organs. Here we describe the experimental procedures from sample harvesting and extraction to mass spectral analysis and interpretation that allow the researcher to perform ¹³C-labeling experiments. A wide range of plant material, from single cells to whole plants, can be used to investigate the metabolic fate of the ¹³C from a predefined tracer. Thus, a key point of this analysis is to choose the correct biological system, the substrate and the condition to be investigated; all of which implicitly relies on the biological question to be investigated. Rapid sample quenching and a careful data analysis are also critical points in such studies. By contrast to other metabolomic approaches, stable-isotope labeling can provide information concerning the fluxes through metabolic networks, which is essential for understanding and manipulating metabolic phenotypes and therefore of pivotal importance for both systems biology and plant metabolic engineering.

Rapid in situ 13C tracing of sucrose utilization in Arabidopsis sink and source leaves

BACKGROUND

Conventional metabolomics approaches face the problem of hidden metabolic phenotypes where only fluxes are altered but pool sizes stay constant. Metabolic flux experiments are used to detect such hidden flux phenotypes. These experiments are, however, time consuming, may be cost intensive, and involve specialists for modeling. We fill the gap between conventional metabolomics and flux modeling. We present rapid stable isotope tracing assays and analysis strategies of ¹³C labeling data. For this purpose, we combine the conventional metabolomics approach that detects significant relative changes of metabolite pool sizes with analyses of differential utilization of ¹³C labeled carbon. As a test case, we use uniformly labeled ¹³C-sucrose.

RESULTS

We present petiole and hypocotyl feeding assays for the rapid in situ feeding (≤ 4 h) of isotopically labeled metabolic precursor to whole Arabidopsis thaliana rosettes. The assays are assessed by conventional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry based metabolite profiling that was extended by joined differential analysis of ¹³C-labeled sub-pools and of ¹³C enrichment of metabolites relative to the enrichment of ¹³C-sucrose within each sample. We apply these analyses to the sink to source transition continuum of leaves from single A. thaliana rosettes and characterize the associated relative changes of metabolite pools, as well as previously hidden changes of sucrose-derived carbon partitioning. We compared the contribution of sucrose as a carbon source in predominantly sink to predominantly source leaves and identified a set of primary metabolites with differential carbon utilization during sink to source transition.

CONCLUSION

The presented feeding assays and data evaluation strategies represent a rapid and easy-to-use tool box for enhanced metabolomics studies that combine differential pool size analysis with screening for differential carbon utilization from defined stable isotope labeled metabolic precursors.

Metabolite pools and carbon flow during C4 photosynthesis in maize: 13CO2 labeling kinetics and cell type fractionation

Worldwide efforts to engineer C4 photosynthesis into C3 crops require a deep understanding of how this complex pathway operates. CO2 is incorporated into four-carbon metabolites in the mesophyll, which move to the bundle sheath where they are decarboxylated to concentrate CO2 around RuBisCO. We performed dynamic 13CO2 labeling in maize to analyze C flow in C4 photosynthesis. The overall labeling kinetics reflected the topology of C4 photosynthesis. Analyses of cell-specific labeling patterns after fractionation to enrich bundle sheath and mesophyll cells revealed concentration gradients to drive intercellular diffusion of malate, but not pyruvate, in the major CO2-concentrating shuttle. They also revealed intercellular concentration gradients of aspartate, alanine, and phosphenolpyruvate to drive a second phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK)-type shuttle, which carries 10-14% of the carbon into the bundle sheath. Gradients also exist to drive intercellular exchange of 3-phosphoglycerate and triose-phosphate. There is rapid carbon exchange between the Calvin-Benson cycle and the CO2-concentrating shuttle, equivalent to ~10% of carbon gain. In contrast, very little C leaks from the large pools of metabolites in the C concentration shuttle into respiratory metabolism. We postulate that the presence of multiple shuttles, alongside carbon transfer between them and the Calvin-Benson cycle, confers great flexibility in C4 photosynthesis.

Recent advances in stable isotope-enabled mass spectrometry-based plant metabolomics

Methods employing isotope labeled compounds have been an important part of the bioanalytical canon for many decades. The past fifteen years have seen the development of many new approaches using stable (non-radioactive) isotopes as labels for high-throughput bioanalytical, 'omics-scale' measurements of metabolites (metabolomics) and proteins (proteomics). This review examines stable isotopic labeling approaches that have been developed for labeling whole intact plants, plant tissues, or crude extracts of plant materials with stable isotopes (mainly using ²H, ¹³C, ¹⁵N, ¹⁸O or ³⁴S). The application of metabolome-scale labeling for improving metabolite annotation, metabolic pathway elucidation, and relative quantification in mass spectrometry-based metabolomics of plants is also reviewed.

Decoding Biosynthetic Pathways in Plants by Pulse-Chase Strategies Using (13)CO₂ as a Universal Tracer †

(13)CO₂ pulse-chase experiments monitored by high-resolution NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry can provide (13)C-isotopologue compositions in biosynthetic products. Experiments with a variety of plant species have documented that the isotopologue profiles generated with (13)CO₂ pulse-chase labeling are directly comparable to those that can be generated by the application of [U-(13)C₆]glucose to aseptically growing plants. However, the application of the (13)CO₂ labeling technology is not subject to the experimental limitations that one has to take into account for experiments with [U-(13)C₆]glucose and can be applied to plants growing under physiological conditions, even in the field. In practical terms, the results of biosynthetic studies with (13)CO₂ consist of the detection of pairs, triples and occasionally quadruples of (13)C atoms that have been jointly contributed to the target metabolite, at an abundance that is well above the stochastic occurrence of such multiples. Notably, the connectivities of jointly transferred (13)C multiples can have undergone modification by skeletal rearrangements that can be diagnosed from the isotopologue data. As shown by the examples presented in this review article, the approach turns out to be powerful in decoding the carbon topology of even complex biosynthetic pathways.

Reduced mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase activity has a strong effect on photorespiratory metabolism as revealed by 13C labelling

Mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase (mMDH) catalyses the interconversion of malate and oxaloacetate (OAA) in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. Its activity is important for redox control of the mitochondrial matrix, through which it may participate in regulation of TCA cycle turnover. In Arabidopsis, there are two isoforms of mMDH. Here, we investigated to which extent the lack of the major isoform, mMDH1 accounting for about 60% of the activity, affected leaf metabolism. In air, rosettes of mmdh1 plants were only slightly smaller than wild type plants although the fresh weight was decreased by about 50%. In low CO2 the difference was much bigger, with mutant plants accumulating only 14% of fresh weight as compared to wild type. To investigate the metabolic background to the differences in growth, we developed a (13)CO2 labelling method, using a custom-built chamber that enabled simultaneous treatment of sets of plants under controlled conditions. The metabolic profiles were analysed by gas- and liquid- chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry to investigate the metabolic adjustments between wild type and mmdh1 The genotypes responded similarly to high CO2 treatment both with respect to metabolite pools and (13)C incorporation during a 2-h treatment. However, under low CO2 several metabolites differed between the two genotypes and, interestingly most of these were closely associated with photorespiration. We found that while the glycine/serine ratio increased, a concomitant altered glutamine/glutamate/α-ketoglutarate relation occurred. Taken together, our results indicate that adequate mMDH activity is essential to shuttle reductants out from the mitochondria to support the photorespiratory flux, and strengthen the idea that photorespiration is tightly intertwined with peripheral metabolic reactions.

Assessing compartmentalized flux in lipid metabolism with isotopes

Metabolism in plants takes place across multiple cell types and within distinct organelles. The distributions equate to spatial heterogeneity; though the limited means to experimentally assess metabolism frequently involve homogenizing tissues and mixing metabolites from different locations. Most current isotope investigations of metabolism therefore lack the ability to resolve spatially distinct events. Recognition of this limitation has resulted in inspired efforts to advance metabolic flux analysis and isotopic labeling techniques. Though a number of these efforts have been applied to studies in central metabolism; recent advances in instrumentation and techniques present an untapped opportunity to make similar progress in lipid metabolism where the use of stable isotopes has been more limited. These efforts will benefit from sophisticated radiolabeling reports that continue to enrich our knowledge on lipid biosynthetic pathways and provide some direction for stable isotope experimental design and extension of MFA. Evidence for this assertion is presented through the review of several elegant stable isotope studies and by taking stock of what has been learned from radioisotope investigations when spatial aspects of metabolism were considered. The studies emphasize that glycerolipid production occurs across several locations with assembly of lipids in the ER or plastid, fatty acid biosynthesis occurring in the plastid, and the generation of acetyl-CoA and glycerol-3-phosphate taking place at multiple sites. Considering metabolism in this context underscores the cellular and subcellular organization that is important to enhanced production of glycerolipids in plants. An attempt is made to unify salient features from a number of reports into a diagrammatic model of lipid metabolism and propose where stable isotope labeling experiments and further flux analysis may help address questions in the field. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Plant Lipid Biology edited by Kent D. Chapman and Ivo Feussner.

Proteomics and Metabolomics: Two Emerging Areas for Legume Improvement

The crop legumes such as chickpea, common bean, cowpea, peanut, pigeonpea, soybean, etc. are important sources of nutrition and contribute to a significant amount of biological nitrogen fixation (>20 million tons of fixed nitrogen) in agriculture. However, the production of legumes is constrained due to abiotic and biotic stresses. It is therefore imperative to understand the molecular mechanisms of plant response to different stresses and identify key candidate genes regulating tolerance which can be deployed in breeding programs. The information obtained from transcriptomics has facilitated the identification of candidate genes for the given trait of interest and utilizing them in crop breeding programs to improve stress tolerance. However, the mechanisms of stress tolerance are complex due to the influence of multi-genes and post-transcriptional regulations. Furthermore, stress conditions greatly affect gene expression which in turn causes modifications in the composition of plant proteomes and metabolomes. Therefore, functional genomics involving various proteomics and metabolomics approaches have been obligatory for understanding plant stress tolerance. These approaches have also been found useful to unravel different pathways related to plant and seed development as well as symbiosis. Proteome and metabolome profiling using high-throughput based systems have been extensively applied in the model legume species, Medicago truncatula and Lotus japonicus, as well as in the model crop legume, soybean, to examine stress signaling pathways, cellular and developmental processes and nodule symbiosis. Moreover, the availability of protein reference maps as well as proteomics and metabolomics databases greatly support research and understanding of various biological processes in legumes. Protein-protein interaction techniques, particularly the yeast two-hybrid system have been advantageous for studying symbiosis and stress signaling in legumes. In this review, several studies on proteomics and metabolomics in model and crop legumes have been discussed. Additionally, applications of advanced proteomics and metabolomics approaches have also been included in this review for future applications in legume research. The integration of these "omics" approaches will greatly support the identification of accurate biomarkers in legume smart breeding programs.

MID Max: LC-MS/MS Method for Measuring the Precursor and Product Mass Isotopomer Distributions of Metabolic Intermediates and Cofactors for Metabolic Flux Analysis Applications

The analytical challenges to acquire accurate isotopic data of intracellular metabolic intermediates for stationary, nonstationary, and dynamic metabolic flux analysis (MFA) are numerous. This work presents MID Max, a novel LC-MS/MS workflow, acquisition, and isotopomer deconvolution method for MFA that takes advantage of additional scan types that maximizes the number of mass isotopomer distributions (MIDs) that can be acquired in a given experiment. The analytical method was found to measure the MIDs of 97 metabolites, corresponding to 74 unique metabolite-fragment pairs (32 precursor spectra and 42 product spectra) with accuracy and precision. The compounds measured included metabolic intermediates in central carbohydrate metabolism and cofactors of peripheral metabolism (e.g., ATP). Using only a subset of the acquired MIDs, the method was found to improve the precision of flux estimations and number of resolved exchange fluxes for wild-type E. coli compared to traditional methods and previously published data sets.

Tracking the metabolic pulse of plant lipid production with isotopic labeling and flux analyses: Past, present and future

Metabolism is comprised of networks of chemical transformations, organized into integrated biochemical pathways that are the basis of cellular operation, and function to sustain life. Metabolism, and thus life, is not static. The rate of metabolites transitioning through biochemical pathways (i.e., flux) determines cellular phenotypes, and is constantly changing in response to genetic or environmental perturbations. Each change evokes a response in metabolic pathway flow, and the quantification of fluxes under varied conditions helps to elucidate major and minor routes, and regulatory aspects of metabolism. To measure fluxes requires experimental methods that assess the movements and transformations of metabolites without creating artifacts. Isotopic labeling fills this role and is a long-standing experimental approach to identify pathways and quantify their metabolic relevance in different tissues or under different conditions. The application of labeling techniques to plant science is however far from reaching it potential. In light of advances in genetics and molecular biology that provide a means to alter metabolism, and given recent improvements in instrumentation, computational tools and available isotopes, the use of isotopic labeling to probe metabolism is becoming more and more powerful. We review the principal analytical methods for isotopic labeling with a focus on seminal studies of pathways and fluxes in lipid metabolism and carbon partitioning through central metabolism. Central carbon metabolic steps are directly linked to lipid production by serving to generate the precursors for fatty acid biosynthesis and lipid assembly. Additionally some of the ideas for labeling techniques that may be most applicable for lipid metabolism in the future were originally developed to investigate other aspects of central metabolism. We conclude by describing recent advances that will play an important future role in quantifying flux and metabolic operation in plant tissues.

Isotopically nonstationary 13C flux analysis of changes in Arabidopsis thaliana leaf metabolism due to high light acclimation

Improving plant productivity is an important aim for metabolic engineering. There are few comprehensive methods that quantitatively describe leaf metabolism, although such information would be valuable for increasing photosynthetic capacity, enhancing biomass production, and rerouting carbon flux toward desirable end products. Isotopically nonstationary metabolic flux analysis (INST-MFA) has been previously applied to map carbon fluxes in photoautotrophic bacteria, which involves model-based regression of transient (13)C-labeling patterns of intracellular metabolites. However, experimental and computational difficulties have hindered its application to terrestrial plant systems. We performed in vivo isotopic labeling of Arabidopsis thaliana rosettes with (13)CO2 and estimated fluxes throughout leaf photosynthetic metabolism by INST-MFA. Plants grown at 200 µmol m(-2)s(-1) light were compared with plants acclimated for 9 d at an irradiance of 500 µmol⋅m(-2)⋅s(-1). Approximately 1,400 independent mass isotopomer measurements obtained from analysis of 37 metabolite fragment ions were regressed to estimate 136 total fluxes (54 free fluxes) under each condition. The results provide a comprehensive description of changes in carbon partitioning and overall photosynthetic flux after long-term developmental acclimation of leaves to high light. Despite a doubling in the carboxylation rate, the photorespiratory flux increased from 17 to 28% of net CO2 assimilation with high-light acclimation (Vc/Vo: 3.5:1 vs. 2.3:1, respectively). This study highlights the potential of (13)C INST-MFA to describe emergent flux phenotypes that respond to environmental conditions or plant physiology and cannot be obtained by other complementary approaches.

Application of stable isotope-assisted metabolomics for cell metabolism studies

The applications of stable isotopes in metabolomics have facilitated the study of cell metabolisms. Stable isotope-assisted metabolomics requires: (1) properly designed tracer experiments; (2) stringent sampling and quenching protocols to minimize isotopic alternations; (3) efficient metabolite separations; (4) high resolution mass spectrometry to resolve overlapping peaks and background noises; and (5) data analysis methods and databases to decipher isotopic clusters over a broad m/z range (mass-to-charge ratio). This paper overviews mass spectrometry based techniques for precise determination of metabolites and their isotopologues. It also discusses applications of isotopic approaches to track substrate utilization, identify unknown metabolites and their chemical formulas, measure metabolite concentrations, determine putative metabolic pathways, and investigate microbial community populations and their carbon assimilation patterns. In addition, 13C-metabolite fingerprinting and metabolic models can be integrated to quantify carbon fluxes (enzyme reaction rates). The fluxome, in combination with other "omics" analyses, may give systems-level insights into regulatory mechanisms underlying gene functions. More importantly, 13C-tracer experiments significantly improve the potential of low-resolution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for broad-scope metabolism studies. We foresee the isotope-assisted metabolomics to be an indispensable tool in industrial biotechnology, environmental microbiology, and medical research.

Quantification of stable isotope label in metabolites via mass spectrometry

Isotope labelling experiments with stable or radioactive isotopes have long been an integral part of biological and medical research. Labelling experiments led to the discovery of new metabolic pathways and made it possible to calculate the fluxes responsible for a metabolic phenotype, i.e., the qualitative and quantitative composition of metabolites in a biological system. Prerequisite for efficient isotope labelling experiments is a reliable and precise method to analyze the redistribution of isotope label in a metabolic network. Here we describe the use of the CORRECTOR program, which utilizes matrix calculations to correct mass spectral data from stable isotope labelling experiments for the distorting effect of naturally occurring stable isotopes (NOIs). CORRECTOR facilitates and speeds up the routine quantification of experimentally introduced isotope label from multiple mass spectral readouts, which are generated by routine metabolite profiling when combined with stable isotope labelling experiments.

High-throughput data pipelines for metabolic flux analysis in plants

In this chapter we illustrate the methodology for high-throughput metabolic flux analysis. Central to this is developing an end to end data pipeline, crucial for integrating the wet lab experiments and analytics, combining hardware and software automation, and standardizing data representation providing importers and exporters to support third party tools. The use of existing software at the start, data extraction from the chromatogram, and the end, MFA analysis, allows for the most flexibility in this workflow. Developing iMS2Flux provided a standard, extensible, platform independent tool to act as the "glue" between these end points. Most importantly this tool can be easily adapted to support different data formats, data verification and data correction steps allowing it to be central to managing the data necessary for high-throughput MFA. An additional tool was needed to automate the MFA software and in particular to take advantage of the course grained parallel nature of high-throughput analysis and available high performance computing facilities.In combination these methods show the development of high-throughput pipelines that allow metabolic flux analysis to join as a full member of the omics family.

Profiling methods to identify cold-regulated primary metabolites using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry

This book chapter describes the analytical procedures required for the profiling of a metabolite fraction enriched for primary metabolites. The profiling is based on routine gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The generic profiling method is adapted to plant material, specifically to the analysis of single leaves from plants that were exposed to temperature stress experiments. The described method is modular. The modules include a rapid sampling and metabolic inactivation protocol for samples in a wide size range, a sample extraction procedure, a chemical derivatization step that is required to make the metabolite fraction amenable to gas chromatographic analysis, a routine GC-MS method, and finally the procedures of data processing and data mining. A basic and extendable set of standardizations for metabolite recovery and retention index alignment of the resulting GC-MS chromatograms is included. The method has two applications: (1) the rapid screening for changes of relative metabolite pools sizes under temperature stress and (2) the verification of cold-regulated metabolites by exact quantification using a GC-MS protocol with extended internal and external standardization.

Isotopically nonstationary MFA (INST-MFA) of autotrophic metabolism

Metabolic flux analysis (MFA) is a powerful approach for quantifying plant central carbon metabolism based upon a combination of extracellular flux measurements and intracellular isotope labeling measurements. In this chapter, we present the method of isotopically nonstationary (13)C MFA (INST-MFA), which is applicable to autotrophic systems that are at metabolic steady state but are sampled during the transient period prior to achieving isotopic steady state following the introduction of (13)CO2. We describe protocols for performing the necessary isotope labeling experiments, sample collection and quenching, nonaqueous fractionation and extraction of intracellular metabolites, and mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of metabolite labeling. We also outline the steps required to perform computational flux estimation using INST-MFA. By combining several recently developed experimental and computational techniques, INST-MFA provides an important new platform for mapping carbon fluxes that is especially applicable to autotrophic organisms, which are not amenable to steady-state (13)C MFA experiments.

Application of metabolic flux analysis to plants

This volume compiles a series of chapters that cover the major aspects of plant metabolic flux analysis, such as but not limited to labeling of plant material, acquisition of labeling data, mathematical modeling of metabolic network at the cell, tissue, and plant level. A short revue, including methodological points and applications of flux analysis to plants, is presented in this introductory chapter.

A device for single leaf labelling with CO2 isotopes to study carbon allocation and partitioning in Arabidopsis thaliana

BACKGROUND

Plant biomass consists primarily of carbohydrates derived from photosynthesis. Monitoring the assimilation of carbon via the Calvin-Benson cycle and its subsequent utilisation is fundamental to understanding plant growth. The use of stable and radioactive carbon isotopes, supplied to plants as CO2, allows the measurement of fluxes through the intermediates of primary photosynthetic metabolism, long-distance transport of sugars in the vasculature, and the synthesis of structural and storage components.

RESULTS

Here we describe the design of a system for supplying isotopically labelled CO2 to single leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana. We demonstrate that the system works well using short pulses of 14CO2 and that it can be used to produce robust qualitative and quantitative data about carbon export from source leaves to the sink tissues, such as the developing leaves and the roots. Time course experiments show the dynamics of carbon partitioning between storage as starch, local production of biomass, and export of carbon to sink tissues.

CONCLUSION

This isotope labelling method is relatively simple to establish and inexpensive to perform. Our use of 14CO2 helps establish the temporal and spatial allocation of assimilated carbon during plant growth, delivering data complementary to those obtained in recent studies using 13CO2 and MS-based metabolomics techniques. However, we emphasise that this labelling device could also be used effectively in combination with 13CO2 and MS-based techniques.

Soybean GmbZIP123 gene enhances lipid content in the seeds of transgenic Arabidopsis plants

Soybean is one of most important oil crops and a significant increase in lipid content in soybean seeds would facilitate vegetable oil production in the world. Although the pathways for lipid biosynthesis in higher plants have been uncovered, our understanding of regulatory mechanism controlling lipid accumulation is still limited. In this study, we identified 87 transcription factor genes with a higher abundance at the stage of lipid accumulation in soybean seeds. One of these genes, GmbZIP123, was selected to further study its function in regulation of lipid accumulation. Overexpression of GmbZIP123 enhanced lipid content in the seeds of transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants. The GmbZIP123 transgene promoted expression of two sucrose transporter genes (SUC1 and SUC5) and three cell-wall invertase genes (cwINV1, cwINV3, and cwINV6) by binding directly to the promoters of these genes. Consistently, the cell-wall invertase activity and sugar translocation were all enhanced in siliques of GmbZIP123 transgenic plants. Higher levels of glucose, fructose, and sucrose were also found in seeds of GmbZIP123 transgenic plants. These results suggest that GmbZIP123 may participate in regulation of lipid accumulation in soybean seeds by controlling sugar transport into seeds from photoautotrophic tissues. This study provides novel insights into the regulatory mechanism for lipid accumulation in seeds and may facilitate improvements in oil production in soybean and other oil crops through genetic manipulation of the GmbZIP123 gene.

Modelling metabolic CO₂ evolution--a fresh perspective on respiration

Respiration is a major contributor to net exchange of CO₂ between plants and the atmosphere and thus an important aspect of the vegetation component of global climate change models. However, a mechanistic model of respiration is lacking, and so here we explore the potential for flux balance analysis (FBA) to predict cellular CO₂ evolution rates. Metabolic flux analysis reveals that respiration is not always the dominant source of CO₂, and that metabolic processes such as the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway (OPPP) and lipid synthesis can be quantitatively important. Moreover, there is considerable variation in the metabolic origin of evolved CO₂ between tissues, species and conditions. Comparison of FBA-predicted CO₂ evolution profiles with those determined from flux measurements reveals that FBA is able to predict the metabolic origin of evolved CO₂ in different tissues/species and under different conditions. However, FBA is poor at predicting flux through certain metabolic processes such as the OPPP and we identify the way in which maintenance costs are accounted for as a major area of improvement for future FBA studies. We conclude that FBA, in its standard form, can be used to predict CO₂ evolution in a range of plant tissues and in response to environment.

Analysis of metabolic flux using dynamic labelling and metabolic modelling

Metabolic fluxes and the capacity to modulate them are a crucial component of the ability of the plant cell to react to environmental perturbations. Our ability to quantify them and to attain information concerning the regulatory mechanisms that control them is therefore essential to understand and influence metabolic networks. For all but the simplest of flux measurements labelling methods have proven to be the most informative. Both steady-state and dynamic labelling approaches have been adopted in the study of plant metabolism. Here the conceptual basis of these complementary approaches, as well as their historical application in microbial, mammalian and plant sciences, is reviewed, and an update on technical developments in label distribution analyses is provided. This is supported by illustrative cases studies involving the kinetic modelling of secondary metabolism. One issue that is particularly complex in the analysis of plant fluxes is the extensive compartmentation of the plant cell. This problem is discussed from both theoretical and experimental perspectives, and the current approaches used to address it are assessed. Finally, current limitations and future perspectives of kinetic modelling of plant metabolism are discussed.

Gas-Chromatography Mass-Spectrometry (GC-MS) Based Metabolite Profiling Reveals Mannitol as a Major Storage Carbohydrate in the Coccolithophorid Alga Emiliania huxleyi

Algae are divergent organisms having a wide variety of evolutional histories. Although most of them share photosynthetic activity, their pathways of primary carbon metabolism are rather diverse among species. Here we developed a method for gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) based metabolite profiling for the coccolithophorid alga Emiliania huxleyi, which is one of the most abundant microalgae in the ocean, in order to gain an overview of the pathway of primary metabolism within this alga. Following method optimization, twenty-six metabolites could be detected by this method. Whilst most proteogenic amino acids were detected, no peaks corresponding to malate and fumarate were found. The metabolite profile of E. huxleyi was, however, characterized by a prominent accumulation of mannitol reaching in excess of 14 nmol 10⁶ cells⁻¹. Similarly, the accumulation of the ¹³C label during short term H¹³CO₃⁻ feeding revealed a massive redistribution of label into mannitol as well as rapid but saturating label accumulation into glucose and several amino acids including aspartate, glycine and serine. These results provide support to previous work suggesting that this species adopts C₃ photosynthesis and that mannitol functions as a carbon store in E. huxleyi.

Recent applications of metabolomics toward cyanobacteria

Our knowledge on cyanobacterial molecular biology increased tremendously by the application of the "omics" techniques. Only recently, metabolomics was applied systematically to model cyanobacteria. Metabolomics, the quantitative estimation of ideally the complete set of cellular metabolites, is particularly well suited to mirror cellular metabolism and its flexibility under diverse conditions. Traditionally, small sets of metabolites are quantified in targeted metabolome approaches. The development of separation technologies coupled to mass-spectroscopy- or nuclear-magnetic-resonance-based identification of low molecular mass molecules presently allows the profiling of hundreds of metabolites of diverse chemical nature. Metabolome analysis was applied to characterize changes in the cyanobacterial primary metabolism under diverse environmental conditions or in defined mutants. The resulting lists of metabolites and their steady state concentrations in combination with transcriptomics can be used in system biology approaches. The application of stable isotopes in fluxomics, i.e. the quantitative estimation of carbon and nitrogen fluxes through the biochemical network, has only rarely been applied to cyanobacteria, but particularly this technique will allow the making of kinetic models of cyanobacterial systems. The further application of metabolomics in the concert of other "omics" technologies will not only broaden our knowledge, but will also certainly strengthen the base for the biotechnological application of cyanobacteria.

Metabolic fluxes in an illuminated Arabidopsis rosette

Photosynthesis is the basis for life, and its optimization is a key biotechnological aim given the problems of population explosion and environmental deterioration. We describe a method to resolve intracellular fluxes in intact Arabidopsis thaliana rosettes based on time-dependent labeling patterns in the metabolome. Plants photosynthesizing under limiting irradiance and ambient CO2 in a custom-built chamber were transferred into a (13)CO2-enriched environment. The isotope labeling patterns of 40 metabolites were obtained using liquid or gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Labeling kinetics revealed striking differences between metabolites. At a qualitative level, they matched expectations in terms of pathway topology and stoichiometry, but some unexpected features point to the complexity of subcellular and cellular compartmentation. To achieve quantitative insights, the data set was used for estimating fluxes in the framework of kinetic flux profiling. We benchmarked flux estimates to four classically determined flux signatures of photosynthesis and assessed the robustness of the estimates with respect to different features of the underlying metabolic model and the time-resolved data set.

Recent progress in the development of metabolome databases for plant systems biology

Metabolomics has grown greatly as a functional genomics tool, and has become an invaluable diagnostic tool for biochemical phenotyping of biological systems. Over the past decades, a number of databases involving information related to mass spectra, compound names and structures, statistical/mathematical models and metabolic pathways, and metabolite profile data have been developed. Such databases complement each other and support efficient growth in this area, although the data resources remain scattered across the World Wide Web. Here, we review available metabolome databases and summarize the present status of development of related tools, particularly focusing on the plant metabolome. Data sharing discussed here will pave way for the robust interpretation of metabolomic data and advances in plant systems biology.

Isotopically nonstationary 13C metabolic flux analysis

(13)C metabolic flux analysis (MFA) is a powerful approach for quantifying cell physiology based upon a combination of extracellular flux measurements and intracellular isotope labeling measurements. In this chapter, we present the method of isotopically nonstationary (13)C MFA (INST-MFA), which is applicable to systems that are at metabolic steady state, but are sampled during the transient period prior to achieving isotopic steady state following the introduction of a (13)C tracer. We describe protocols for performing the necessary isotope labeling experiments, for quenching and extraction of intracellular metabolites, for mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of metabolite labeling, and for computational flux estimation using INST-MFA. By combining several recently developed experimental and computational techniques, INST-MFA provides an important new platform for mapping carbon fluxes that is especially applicable to animal cell cultures, autotrophic organisms, industrial bioprocesses, high-throughput experiments, and other systems that are not amenable to steady-state (13)C MFA experiments.

iMS2Flux--a high-throughput processing tool for stable isotope labeled mass spectrometric data used for metabolic flux analysis

Background

Metabolic flux analysis has become an established method in systems biology and functional genomics. The most common approach for determining intracellular metabolic fluxes is to utilize mass spectrometry in combination with stable isotope labeling experiments. However, before the mass spectrometric data can be used it has to be corrected for biases caused by naturally occurring stable isotopes, by the analytical technique(s) employed, or by the biological sample itself. Finally the MS data and the labeling information it contains have to be assembled into a data format usable by flux analysis software (of which several dedicated packages exist). Currently the processing of mass spectrometric data is time-consuming and error-prone requiring peak by peak cut-and-paste analysis and manual curation. In order to facilitate high-throughput metabolic flux analysis, the automation of multiple steps in the analytical workflow is necessary.

Results

Here we describe iMS2Flux, software developed to automate, standardize and connect the data flow between mass spectrometric measurements and flux analysis programs. This tool streamlines the transfer of data from extraction via correction tools to ¹³C-Flux software by processing MS data from stable isotope labeling experiments. It allows the correction of large and heterogeneous MS datasets for the presence of naturally occurring stable isotopes, initial biomass and several mass spectrometry effects. Before and after data correction, several checks can be performed to ensure accurate data. The corrected data may be returned in a variety of formats including those used by metabolic flux analysis software such as 13CFLUX, OpenFLUX and 13CFLUX2.

Conclusion

iMS2Flux is a versatile, easy to use tool for the automated processing of mass spectrometric data containing isotope labeling information. It represents the core framework for a standardized workflow and data processing. Due to its flexibility it facilitates the inclusion of different experimental datasets and thus can contribute to the expansion of flux analysis applications.

Simultaneous determination of sulphur metabolites in Arabidopsis thaliana via LC-ESI-MS/MS and ³⁴S-metabolic labelling

INTRODUCTION

Sulphur-containing metabolites play an important role in metabolism and homeostasis. Determination of these metabolites is challenging owing to their low concentrations and the interference in mass spectrometry analysis.

OBJECTIVE

To develop a sensitive and accurate method based on liquid chromatography, electrospray ionisation, tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) and ³⁴S-metabolic labelling for quantification of methionine, reduced glutathione, oxidised glutathione in Arabidopsis thaliana.

METHODOLOGY

A hydroponic set-up was used for the in vivo ³⁴S-metabolic labelling of A. thaliana. The ³⁴S-labelled metabolites biosynthesised in plant were extracted and used as internal standards. Tissue was extracted with perchloric acid (PCA) or PCA containing a known amount of the analytes for recovery analysis. Tissue extract mixed with extract of ³⁴S-labelled A. thaliana in an appropriate ratio was subjected to a LC system and electrospray ionisation-mass spectrometric (ESI-MS) analysis. Quantification of metabolites was measured by comparing the ³⁴S/³⁴S ratios obtained for samples with the calibration curves.

RESULTS

Calibration curves showed linearity with regression coefficients in the range of 0.9994-0.9999. Analyte recoveries were approximately 100%. The coefficients of variation of intra-assay and inter-assay were less than 4.2% and 5%, respectively. The ranges for the limits of detection determined for Met, GSSG and GSH were 10 fmol, < 10 fmol and 1.12 fmol and the limits of quantification determined for Met, GSSG and GSH were 0.44 pmol, 0.16 pmol and 34 fmol, respectively.

CONCLUSION

The validated method for determination of methionine, reduced glutathione and oxidised glutathione was effectively applied to measure metabolite dynamics of sulphur-containing metabolites at the whole-plant level.

Respiratory carbon fluxes in leaves

Leaf respiration is a major metabolic process that drives energy production and growth. Earlier works in this field were focused on the measurement of respiration rates in relation to carbohydrate content, photosynthesis, enzymatic activities or nitrogen content. Recently, several studies have shed light on the mechanisms describing the regulation of respiration in the light and in the dark and on associated metabolic flux patterns. This review will highlight advances made into characterizing respiratory fluxes and provide a discussion of metabolic respiration dynamics in relation to important biological functions.