Native mass spectrometry-based metabolomics identifies metal-binding compounds.
Nat Chem 2022;
14:100-109. [PMID:
34795435 PMCID:
PMC8959065 DOI:
10.1038/s41557-021-00803-1]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2019] [Accepted: 08/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Although metals are essential for the molecular machineries of life, systematic methods for discovering metal-small molecule complexes from biological samples are limited. Here, we describe a two-step native electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry method, in which post-column pH adjustment and metal infusion are combined with ion identity molecular networking, a rule-based data analysis workflow. This method enabled the identification of metal-binding compounds in complex samples based on defined mass (m/z) offsets of ion species with the same chromatographic profiles. As this native electrospray metabolomics approach is suited to the use of any liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry system to explore the binding of any metal, this method has the potential to become an essential strategy for elucidating metal-binding molecules in biology.
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