uPLC coupled with Triple-Quadrupole Mass-Spectrometer and Ion-Mobility for Photosynthetic Metabolism

• Subject Area: Plant Sciences
• Term: Funded in 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 549465473

The major research instrumentation applied for here, is planned to be used as a high-throughput analytical platform aimed for profiling and quantification of metabolic intermediates and fluxes across photosynthetic and central metabolism in plants, algae and additional organisms. In combination with our recently developed technologies for labelling of photosynthetic cells, this setup at its requested configuration (Bio-Compatible, Quadrupole-Trap and Ion-Mobility integrated) will provide a unique high-sensitivity setup customized for the challenging separation and quantification of polar and phosphorylated intermediates, which is crucial for robust large-scale metabolic flux estimation in the target metabolic pathways. This group of target metabolic intermediates is of great importance in modern molecular plant science, for basic, agricultural-, biotechnological- and environmental-directed research. Reliable estimation of fluxes from labelling kinetics of photosynthetic intermediates is not trivial and is challenged by their relative low abundance, very short half-times and polar nature which complicates their separation. The requested Ion-Mobility module together with the Quadrupole-Trap will facilitate the separation and amplification of these metabolites’ signals, thus also supporting a more comprehensive cover of the target pathways, and a more accurate determination of their isotopomeric distribution. A fully bio-compatible system will complement this setup to enhance peak performance for these metal-sensitive analytes, thus contributing to improved resolution and sensitivity, which may represent a feasibility barrier for some of the studies presented here. The obtained analyses to be performed with the requested instrument, which will be integrated into the DataPlant framework, are expected to be ground-breaking and tremendously insightful, setting it as a central hub for plant metabolism research in Germany and Europe.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: uPLC gekoppelt mit Triple-Quadrupol-Massenspektrometer und Ionenmobilität
• Instrumentation Group: 1700 Massenspektrometer
• Applicant Institution: Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau
• Leader: Professor Haim Treves, Ph.D.