-
Life Science Alliance Aug 2023Microbial symbionts frequently localize within specific body structures or cell types of their multicellular hosts. This spatiotemporal niche is critical to host health,...
Microbial symbionts frequently localize within specific body structures or cell types of their multicellular hosts. This spatiotemporal niche is critical to host health, nutrient exchange, and fitness. Measuring host-microbe metabolite exchange has conventionally relied on tissue homogenates, eliminating dimensionality and dampening analytical sensitivity. We have developed a mass spectrometry imaging workflow for a soft- and hard-bodied cnidarian animal capable of revealing the host and symbiont metabolome in situ, without the need for a priori isotopic labelling or skeleton decalcification. The mass spectrometry imaging method provides critical functional insights that cannot be gleaned from bulk tissue analyses or other presently available spatial methods. We show that cnidarian hosts may regulate microalgal symbiont acquisition and rejection through specific ceramides distributed throughout the tissue lining the gastrovascular cavity. The distribution pattern of betaine lipids showed that once resident, symbionts primarily reside in light-exposed tentacles to generate photosynthate. Spatial patterns of these metabolites also revealed that symbiont identity can drive host metabolism.
Topics: Animals; Metabolomics; Metabolome; Symbiosis; Mass Spectrometry; Invertebrates
PubMed: 37202120
DOI: 10.26508/lsa.202301900 -
BMC Microbiology Dec 2023Intrinsic metabolism shapes the immune environment associated with immune suppression and tolerance in settings such as organ transplantation and cancer. However, little...
Intrinsic metabolism shapes the immune environment associated with immune suppression and tolerance in settings such as organ transplantation and cancer. However, little is known about the metabolic activities in an immunosuppressive environment. In this study, we employed metagenomic, metabolomic, and immunological approaches to profile the early effects of the immunosuppressant drug tacrolimus, antibiotics, or both in gut lumen and circulation using a murine model. Tacrolimus induced rapid and profound alterations in metabolic activities within two days of treatment, prior to alterations in gut microbiota composition and structure. The metabolic profile and gut microbiome after seven days of treatment was distinct from that after two days of treatment, indicating continuous drug effects on both gut microbial ecosystem and host metabolism. The most affected taxonomic groups are Clostriales and Verrucomicrobiae (i.e., Akkermansia muciniphila), and the most affected metabolic pathways included a group of interconnected amino acids, bile acid conjugation, glucose homeostasis, and energy production. Highly correlated metabolic changes were observed between lumen and serum metabolism, supporting their significant interactions. Despite a small sample size, this study explored the largely uncharacterized microbial and metabolic events in an immunosuppressed environment and demonstrated that early changes in metabolic activities can have significant implications that may serve as antecedent biomarkers of immune activation or quiescence. To understand the intricate relationships among gut microbiome, metabolic activities, and immune cells in an immune suppressed environment is a prerequisite for developing strategies to monitor and optimize alloimmune responses that determine transplant outcomes.
Topics: Animals; Mice; Immunosuppressive Agents; Metabolome; Metabolomics; Tacrolimus
PubMed: 38066426
DOI: 10.1186/s12866-023-03141-z -
Advances in Nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) Nov 2023Dietary metabolomics is a relatively objective approach to identifying new biomarkers of dietary intake and for use alongside traditional methods. However, methods used... (Review)
Review
Dietary metabolomics is a relatively objective approach to identifying new biomarkers of dietary intake and for use alongside traditional methods. However, methods used across dietary feeding studies vary, thus making it challenging to compare results. The objective of this study was to synthesize methodological components of controlled human feeding studies designed to quantify the diet-related metabolome in biospecimens, including plasma, serum, and urine after dietary interventions. Six electronic databases were searched. Included studies were as follows: 1) conducted in healthy adults; 2) intervention studies; 3) feeding studies focusing on dietary patterns; and 4) measured the dietary metabolome. From 12,425 texts, 50 met all inclusion criteria. Interventions were primarily crossover (n = 25) and parallel randomized controlled trials (n = 22), with between 8 and 395 participants. Seventeen different dietary patterns were tested, with the most common being the "High versus Low-Glycemic Index/Load" pattern (n = 11) and "Typical Country Intake" (n = 11); with 32 providing all or the majority (90%) of food, 16 providing some food, and 2 providing no food. Metabolites were identified in urine (n = 31) and plasma/serum (n = 30). Metabolites were quantified using liquid chromatography, mass spectroscopy (n = 31) and used untargeted metabolomics (n = 37). There was extensive variability in the methods used in controlled human feeding studies examining the metabolome, including dietary patterns tested, biospecimen sample collection, and metabolomic analysis techniques. To improve the comparability and reproducibility of controlled human feeding studies examining the metabolome, it is important to provide detailed information about the dietary interventions being tested, including information about included or restricted foods, food groups, and meal plans provided. Strategies to control for individual variability, such as a crossover study design, statistical adjustment methods, dietary-controlled run-in periods, or providing standardized meals or test foods throughout the study should also be considered. The protocol for this review has been registered at Open Science Framework (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/DAHGS).
Topics: Adult; Humans; Nutrition Assessment; Cross-Over Studies; Reproducibility of Results; Metabolomics; Diet; Metabolome; Biomarkers
PubMed: 37604308
DOI: 10.1016/j.advnut.2023.08.010 -
BioMed Research International 2018In recent years, the study of metabolomics has begun to receive increasing international attention, especially as it pertains to medical research. This is due in part to... (Review)
Review
In recent years, the study of metabolomics has begun to receive increasing international attention, especially as it pertains to medical research. This is due in part to the potential for discovery of new biomarkers in the metabolome and to a new understanding of the "exposome", which refers to the endogenous and exogenous compounds that reflect external exposures. Consequently, metabolomics research into pregnancy-related issues has increased. Biomarkers discovered through metabolomics may shed some light on the etiology of certain pregnancy-related complications and their adverse effects on future maternal health and infant development and improve current clinical management. The discoveries and methods used in these studies will be compiled and summarized within the following paper. A further focus of this paper is the use of hair as a biological sample, which is gaining increasing attention across diverse fields due to its noninvasive sampling method and the metabolome stability. Its significance in exposome studies will be considered in this review, as well as the potential to associate exposures with adverse pregnancy outcomes. Currently, hair has been used in only two metabolomics studies relating to fetal growth restriction (FGR) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).
Topics: Biomarkers; Female; Hair; Humans; Metabolome; Metabolomics; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications; Pregnancy Outcome
PubMed: 30662903
DOI: 10.1155/2018/2815439 -
Metabolomics : Official Journal of the... Nov 2020NMR metabolomics is increasingly used in forensics, due to the possibility of investigating both endogenous metabolic profiles and exogenous molecules that may help to... (Review)
Review
INTRODUCTION
NMR metabolomics is increasingly used in forensics, due to the possibility of investigating both endogenous metabolic profiles and exogenous molecules that may help to describe metabolic patterns and their modifications associated to specific conditions of forensic interest.
OBJECTIVES
The aim of this work was to review the recent literature and depict the information provided by NMR metabolomics. Attention has been devoted to the identification of peculiar metabolic signatures and specific ante-mortem and post-mortem profiles or biomarkers related to different conditions of forensic concern, such as the identification of biological traces, the estimation of the time since death, and the exposure to drugs of abuse.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION
The results of the described studies highlight how forensics can benefit from NMR metabolomics by gaining additional information that may help to shed light in several forensic issues that still deserve to be further elucidated.
Topics: Animals; Biomarkers; Forensic Sciences; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Metabolome; Metabolomics
PubMed: 33159593
DOI: 10.1007/s11306-020-01743-6 -
The Indian Journal of Medical Research Jun 2021Gynaecological cancers are the major cause of cancer-related deaths in Indian women. The poor prognosis and lack of symptoms in the early stages make early cancer... (Review)
Review
Gynaecological cancers are the major cause of cancer-related deaths in Indian women. The poor prognosis and lack of symptoms in the early stages make early cancer diagnosis difficult. The absence of mandatory screening programmes and the lack of awareness pose to be a real challenge in a developing economy as India. Prompt intervention is required to enhance cancer patient survival statistics and to lessen the social and financial burden. Conventional screening and cytological techniques employed currently have helped to reduce the incidence of cancers considerably. However, these tests offer low sensitivity and specificity and are not widely used for risk assessment, leading to inadequate early-stage cancer diagnosis. The accomplishment of Human Genome Project (HGP) has opened doors to exciting 'omics' platforms. Promising research in genomics and proteomics has revolutionized cancer detection and screening methodologies by providing more insights in the gene expression, protein function and how specific mutation in specific genes corresponds to a particular phenotype. However, these are incompetent to translate the information into clinical applicability. Various factors such as low sensitivity, diurnal variation in protein, poor reproducibility and analytical variables are prime hurdles. Thus the focus has been shifted to metabolomics, which is a much younger platform compared to genomics and proteomics. Metabolomics focuses on endpoint metabolites, which are final products sustained in the response to genetic or environmental changes by a living system. As a result, the metabolome indicates the cell's functional condition, which is directly linked to its phenotype. Metabolic profiling aims to study the changes occurred in metabolic pathways. This metabolite profile is capable of differentiating the healthy individuals from those having cancer. The pathways that a cell takes in turning malignant are exceedingly different, owing to the fact that transformation of healthy cells to abnormal cells is linked with significant metabolic abnormalities. This review is aimed to discuss metabolomics and its potential role in early diagnosis of gynaecological cancers, viz. breast, ovarian and cervical cancer.
Topics: Early Detection of Cancer; Female; Humans; Metabolome; Metabolomics; Neoplasms; Reproducibility of Results
PubMed: 35662083
DOI: 10.4103/ijmr.IJMR_239_19 -
Advances in Nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) Jan 2016In the field of food and nutrition, complex natural products (NPs) are typically obtained from cells/tissues of diverse organisms such as plants, mushrooms, and animals.... (Review)
Review
In the field of food and nutrition, complex natural products (NPs) are typically obtained from cells/tissues of diverse organisms such as plants, mushrooms, and animals. Among them, edible fruits, grains, and vegetables represent most of the human diet. Because of an important dietary dependence, the comprehensive metabolomic analysis of dietary NPs, performed holistically via the assessment of as many metabolites as possible, constitutes a fundamental building block for understanding the human diet. Both mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) are important complementary analytic techniques, covering a wide range of metabolites at different concentrations. Particularly, 1-dimensional 1H-NMR offers an unbiased overview of all metabolites present in a sample without prior knowledge of its composition, thereby leading to an untargeted analysis. In the past decade, NMR-based metabolomics in plant and food analyses has evolved considerably. The scope of the present review, covering literature of the past 5 y, is to address the relevance of 1H-NMR–based metabolomics in food plant studies, including a comparison with MS-based techniques. Major applications of NMR-based metabolomics for the quality control of dietary NPs and assessment of their nutritional values are presented.
Topics: Animals; Biological Products; Diet; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Mass Spectrometry; Metabolome; Metabolomics; Plants, Edible
PubMed: 27180381
DOI: 10.3945/an.115.009928 -
International Journal of Molecular... Apr 2023Phloem sap transport is essential for plant nutrition and development since it mediates redistribution of nutrients, metabolites and signaling molecules. However, its... (Review)
Review
Phloem sap transport is essential for plant nutrition and development since it mediates redistribution of nutrients, metabolites and signaling molecules. However, its biochemical composition is not so well-known because phloem sap sampling is difficult and does not always allow extensive chemical analysis. In the past years, efforts have been devoted to metabolomics analyses of phloem sap using either liquid chromatography or gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Phloem sap metabolomics is of importance to understand how metabolites can be exchanged between plant organs and how metabolite allocation may impact plant growth and development. Here, we provide an overview of our current knowledge of phloem sap metabolome and physiological information obtained therefrom. Although metabolomics analyses of phloem sap are still not numerous, they show that metabolites present in sap are not just sugars and amino acids but that many more metabolic pathways are represented. They further suggest that metabolite exchange between source and sink organs is a general phenomenon, offering opportunities for metabolic cycles at the whole-plant scale. Such cycles reflect metabolic interdependence of plant organs and shoot-root coordination of plant growth and development.
Topics: Phloem; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; Metabolomics; Metabolome; Sugars
PubMed: 37108078
DOI: 10.3390/ijms24086917 -
Current Opinion in Biotechnology Aug 2014Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry-based untargeted metabolomics is now an established experimental approach that is being broadly applied by many laboratories... (Review)
Review
Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry-based untargeted metabolomics is now an established experimental approach that is being broadly applied by many laboratories worldwide. Interpreting untargeted metabolomic data, however, remains a challenge and limits the translation of results into biologically relevant conclusions. Here we review emerging technologies that can be applied after untargeted profiling to extend biological interpretation of metabolomic data. These technologies include advances in bioinformatic software that enable identification of isotopes and adducts, comprehensive pathway mapping, deconvolution of MS(2) data, and tracking of isotopically labeled compounds. There are also opportunities to gain additional biological insight by complementing the metabolomic analysis of homogenized samples with recently developed technologies for metabolite imaging of intact tissues. To maximize the value of these emerging technologies, a unified workflow is discussed that builds on the traditional untargeted metabolomic pipeline. Particularly when integrated together, the combination of the advances highlighted in this review helps transform lists of masses and fold changes characteristic of untargeted profiling results into structures, absolute concentrations, pathway fluxes, and localization patterns that are typically needed to understand biology.
Topics: Animals; Chromatography, Liquid; Computational Biology; Isotope Labeling; Mass Spectrometry; Metabolome; Metabolomics; Software
PubMed: 24816495
DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2014.04.006 -
Methods in Molecular Biology (Clifton,... 2020Untargeted mass spectrometry metabolomics studies rely on accurate databases for the identification of metabolic features. Leveraging unique fragmentation patterns as... (Review)
Review
Untargeted mass spectrometry metabolomics studies rely on accurate databases for the identification of metabolic features. Leveraging unique fragmentation patterns as well as characteristic dissociation routes allows for structural information to be gained for specific metabolites and molecular classes, respectively. Here we describe the evolution of METLIN as a resource for small molecule analysis as well as the tools (e.g., Fragment Similarity Search and Neutral Loss Search) used to query the database and their workflows for the identification of molecular entities. Additionally, we will discuss the functionalities of isoMETLIN, a database of isotopic metabolites, and the latest addition to the METLIN family, METLIN-MRM, which facilitates the analysis of quantitative mass spectrometry data generated with triple quadrupole instrumentation.
Topics: Databases, Factual; Metabolome; Metabolomics; Software; Tandem Mass Spectrometry; Workflow
PubMed: 31953817
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0239-3_9