Rapid HILIC-Z ion mobility mass spectrometry (RHIMMS) method for untargeted metabolomics of complex biological samples

Martina Picmanova, Tessa Moses, Joan Cortada Garcia, Georgie Barrett, Hannah Florance, Sufyan Pandor, Karl E.V. Burgess

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Introduction
Recent advances in high-throughput methodologies in the ‘omics’ and synthetic biology fields call for rapid and sensitive workflows in the metabolic phenotyping of complex biological samples.

Objective
The objective of this research was to evaluate a straightforward to implement LC–MS metabolomics method using a commercially available chromatography column that provides increased throughput. Reducing run time can potentially impact chromatography and therefore the effects of ion mobility spectrometry to expand peak capacity were also evaluated. Additional confidence provided via collision cross section measurements for detected features was also explored.

Methods
A rapid untargeted metabolomics workflow was developed with broad metabolome coverage, combining zwitterionic-phase hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC-Z) with drift tube ion mobility-quadrupole time-of-flight (DTIM-qTOF) mass spectrometry. The analytical performance of our method was explored using extracts from complex biological samples, including a reproducibility study on chicken serum and a simple comparative study on a bacterial metabolome.

Results
The method is acronymised RHIMMS for rapid HILIC-Z ion mobility mass spectrometry. We present the RHIMMS workflow starting with data acquisition, followed by data processing and analysis. RHIMMS demonstrates improved chromatographic separation for a selection of metabolites with wide physicochemical properties while maintaining reproducibility at better than 20% over 200 injections at 3.5 min per sample for the selected metabolites, and a mean of 13.9% for the top 50 metabolites by intensity. Additionally, the combination of rapid chromatographic separation with ion mobility allows improved annotation and the ability to distinguish isobaric compounds.

Conclusion
Our results demonstrate RHIMMS to be a rapid, reproducible, sensitive and high-resolution analytical platform that is highly applicable to the untargeted metabolomics analysis of complex samples.
Original languageEnglish
Article number16
Pages (from-to)16
Number of pages12
JournalMetabolomics : Official journal of the Metabolomic Society
Volume18
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 28 Feb 2022

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • untargeted metabolomics
  • HILIC
  • ion mobility
  • high throughput

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