Lipid A double bond position determination using ozone and laser‐induced dissociation.

This article discusses a new method for determining the double bond positions in fatty acyl chains in lipid A, a component of bacterial virulence factors. The traditional method of using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) results in the loss of information regarding the position of each fatty acid in the lipid A structure. The new method involves ozone treatment followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) analysis, which allows for the identification of double bond positions without the need for hydrolysis. The authors tested the method on two chemically synthesized lipid A molecules and confirmed its effectiveness. They plan to further explore the use of ozone treatment for analyzing different lipid A molecules and their impact on bacterial pathogenicity. [Extracted from the article]