Comprehensive metabolic profiling of mono- and polyglutamated folates and their precursors in plant and animal tissue using liquid chromatography/negative ion electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry.

This work reports the use of reversed-phase ion-pair chromatography coupled to electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry for the simultaneous profiling of folate-based metabolites including natural folates, their polyglutamatyl derivatives and their biosynthetic precursors in plant and animal tissue. A simple sample preparation method, using 0.1% citric acid and ascorbic acid in ice-cold methanol, was used to extract and stabilise the folates, and three internal standards were used. Chromatography was on a C18 column using slow gradient elution with a mobile phase consisting of methanol/water with 5 mM dimethylhexylamine. Mass spectrometric detection was performed by multiple reaction monitoring in seven separate time windows in negative ion mode over the 25 min run time. Full, quantitative analysis was obtained for 16 folates and a 'semi-quantitative' analysis was possible for all other folates with up to eight conjugated glutamate residues by reference to structurally related calibration standards. The precision, accuracy and recovery of the method were generally within the accepted guidelines for a quantitative bioanalytical method and the method was linear over the range 0.2 to 10 ng of individual folate per sample. The method was applied to profile mono- and polyglutamated tetrahydrofolates (including subcellular analysis) in a range of plant species, including Arabidopsis, spinach, Brassica and wheat; the technique was also successfully applied to the profiling of folates in mouse tissue.

Metabolite fingerprinting in transgenic lettuce.

Metabolite fingerprinting has been achieved using direct atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-mass spectrometry (APCI-MS) and linked gas chromatography (GC-APCI/EI-MS) for transgenic lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. cv. Evola) plants expressing an IPT gene under the control of the senescence-specific SAG12 promoter from Arabidopsis thaliana (P(SAG12)-IPT). Mature heads of transgenic lettuce and their azygous controls were maintained under defined conditions to assess their shelf life. Transgenic lettuce plants exhibited delayed senescence and significant increases (up to a maximum of threefold) in the concentrations of three volatile organic compounds (VOCs), corresponding to molecular masses of 45, 47 and 63, when compared with heads from azygous plants. These VOCs were identified as acetaldehyde (45), ethanol (47) and dimethyl sulphide (63). The increase in dimethyl sulphide was paralleled by an accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the heads of transgenic plants. These results demonstrate the applicability of metabolic fingerprinting techniques to elucidate the underlying pleiotropic responses of plants to transgene expression.

Salinity tolerance and antioxidant status in cotton cultures.

This investigation focuses upon cell growth and antioxidant status in cultured cells of cotton (Gossypium herbaceum) cvs. Dhumad (salt-tolerant, TOL), H-14 (medium salt-tolerant, MED), and RAhs-2 (salt-sensitive, SEN) exposed to saline stress (50-200 mM NaCl). Mean (+/- SEM) callus fresh weight (f.wt.) and dry weight (d.wt.) gains were significantly (p <.05) greater on Murashige and Skoog (MS) [1]-based medium with 50 mM NaCl for the TOL cv. (62% and 16%, respectively) over NaCl-free controls (2020 +/- 45 and 166 +/- 4 mg, respectively); comparable differences were not observed for the MED cv. A significant (p <.05) decrease in mean f.wt. occurred with the SEN cv. exposed to 50 mM NaCl. For all cvs., there were (p <.05) reductions in mean f.wts. in medium with >or=100 mM NaCl. At 200 mM NaCl, mean f.wt. decreases were 52% (TOL), 89% (MED), and 91% (SEN), respectively. A strong correlation existed between antioxidant status and growth of cells with NaCl. Superoxide dismutase and glutathione reductase activities increased with increasing salinity in the TOL cv. to maximum values of 26.3 +/- 1.1 U mg(-1) protein and 1.05 +/- 0.01 AB(340 nm) min(-1) mg(-1) protein, respectively, at 150 mM NaCl; for the MED and SEN cvs., there were no changes in activities of these enzymes between control and salt treatments. Catalase activity decreased progressively with increasing salt concentration in all cvs. except for SEN with 100 mM NaCl, where mean catalase activity (1.75 +/- 0.04 AB(240 nm) min(-1) mg(-1) protein) was greater (p <.05) than control (1.13 +/- 0.08). Overall, cultured cotton cells provide an experimental system for investigating the role of antioxidants in salt tolerance at the cellular level.