Search

Untargeted metabolomics experiments for characterizing complex biological samples, conducted with chromatography/mass spectrometry technology, generate large datasets containing very complex and highly variable information. Many data-processing options are available, however, both commercial and open-source solutions for data processing have limitations, such as vendor platform exclusivity and/or requiring familiarity with diverse programming languages. Data processing of untargeted metabolite data is a particular problem for laboratories that specialize in non-routine mass spectrometry analysis of diverse sample types across humans, animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms. Here, we present MStractor, an R workflow package developed to streamline and enhance pre-processing of metabolomics mass spectrometry data and visualization. MStractor combines functions for molecular feature extraction with user-friendly dedicated GUIs for chromatographic and mass spectromerty (MS) parameter input, graphical quality-control outputs, and descriptive statistics. MStractor performance was evaluated through a detailed comparison with XCMS Online. The MStractor package is freely available on GitHub at the MetabolomicsSA repository.

Reaction products of bisulfite and caftaric acid were found in wines containing sulfites as a preservative. Acidic compounds were separated from wine and analyzed by HPLC combined with DAD and QTOF mass spectrometer. HPLC chromatograms of the expected [M-H]- ion and UV absorption revealed the presence of five possible reaction products (a-e). These compounds were isolated then characterized by NMR and confirmed to be the reaction products as follows; 5-sulfo-(E)-caftaric acid (a), 2-sulfo-(Z)-caftaric acid (b), 2-sulfo-(E)-caftaric acid (c), (E)-caftaric acid-4-O-sulfate (d) and (E)-caftaric acid-3-O-sulfate (e). UV spectra and high resolution product ion spectra of the five compounds also supported their identity. The reaction products were confirmed to be commonly present in commercial wines across four vintages and two varieties. Their concentration was found to be as much as that of 2-S-glutathionyl caftaric acid, suggesting that bisulfite consistently competes as a nucleophile with glutathione for the o-quinone of caftaric acid.

The Snf1p/AMP-activated kinases are involved in transcriptional, metabolic, and developmental regulation in response to stress. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Snf1p (Cat1p) is one of the key regulators of carbohydrate metabolism, and cat1 (snf1) mutants fail to grow with non-fermentable carbon sources. In Candida albicans, Snf1p is an essential protein and cells depend on a functional Snf1 kinase even with glucose as carbon source. We investigated the CaSnf1p complex after tandem affinity purification and mass spectrometric analysis and show that the complex composition changes with the carbon source provided. Three subunits were identified, one of which was named CaSnf4p because of its homology to the ScSnf4 protein and the respective CaSNF4 gene could complement a S. cerevisiae snf4 mutant. The other two proteins revealed similarities to the S. cerevisiae kinase beta subunits ScGal83p, ScSip2p, and ScSip1p. Both genes complemented the scaffold function in a S. cerevisiae gal83,sip1,sip2 triple deletion mutant and were named according to their scaffold function as CaKIS1p and CaKIS2p. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization peptide mass fingerprint analysis indicated that CaKis2p is N-terminal myristoylated and the incorporation of CaKis2p in the Snf1p complex was reduced when compared with cells grown with glucose as a carbon source. To verify the different complex assemblies, a stable isotope labeling technique (iTraqtrade mark) was employed, confirming a 3-fold decrease of CaKis2p with ethanol. Yeast two-hybrid analysis confirmed the interaction partners, and these results showed an activator domain for the CaKis2 protein that has not been reported for S. cerevisiae scaffold subunits.