Targeted Quantitative Analysis of Polar and Phosphorylated Intermediates of Algal and Plant Primary Carbon Metabolism Using an Optimized HILIC-Amide Tandem MS Workflow
- 1Department of Biology, RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau, Kaiserslautern, Germany
Abstract
Central carbon metabolism coordinates energy production and carbon skeleton allocation across photosynthetic and heterotrophic organisms. Here, we established an optimized targeted metabolomics workflow for Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Arabidopsis thaliana using a single-run HILIC-MS/MS assay with alternating positive and negative ionization. Our method provides robust multi-class coverage across 21 amino acids, 11 carboxylic acids, 4 sugars, 3 adenine nucleotides, 2 nucleotide sugars, 18 phosphorylated compounds in CCM, and Acetyl-CoA in a 20-minute run using both ESI modes. An optimal concentration of medronic acid with a BEH Amide column at high pH prevented metal adsorption, and low quantification limits (10 to 50 nM) for labile intermediates such as PEP, ATP and RUBP were achieved. Retention time variations remained below 1.3%, and over 90% of analytes showed high linearity (R2 > 0.990) across dynamic ranges spanning two to three orders of magnitude (typically 0.01-0.5 uM up to 15-20 uM). For sample preparation, glass-fiber filters (GF/C) outperformed nitrocellulose for harvesting C. reinhardtii. For A. thaliana, it was proved that no further grinding with micro pestle and extended cooling were necessary. A two-phase chloroform/methanol/water extraction was essential, as a single-phase extraction co-extracted green chlorophyll, which heavily suppressed phosphorylated signals. In Arabidopsis, glutamate, fumaric acid and citric acid were the dominant primary pools, indicating the importance of dilution and column washing for preventing carryover, and sensitive intermediates were reliably quantified at physiological levels. Together, this unified analytical and extraction strategy enables robust, artifact-free, high-throughput profiling of central metabolism in photosynthetic organisms.
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BibTeX
@misc{bui2026targeted,
title = {{Targeted Quantitative Analysis of Polar and Phosphorylated Intermediates of Algal and Plant Primary Carbon Metabolism Using an Optimized HILIC-Amide Tandem MS Workflow}},
author = {N. N. K. Bui and D. Achaintre and F. Sommer and A. K. Atila and O. Geffen and M. Meinert and G. Okooboh and H. Treves},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.28.754878},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.28.754878v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Targeted Quantitative Analysis of Polar and Phosphorylated Intermediates of Algal and Plant Primary Carbon Metabolism Using an Optimized HILIC-Amide Tandem MS Workflow
AU - N. N. K. Bui
AU - D. Achaintre
AU - F. Sommer
AU - A. K. Atila
AU - O. Geffen
AU - M. Meinert
AU - G. Okooboh
AU - H. Treves
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/28
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.28.754878
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.28.754878v1
AB - Central carbon metabolism coordinates energy production and carbon skeleton allocation across photosynthetic and heterotrophic organisms. Here, we established an optimized targeted metabolomics workflow for Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Arabidopsis thaliana using a single-run HILIC-MS/MS assay with alternating positive and negative ionization. Our method provides robust multi-class coverage across 21 amino acids, 11 carboxylic acids, 4 sugars, 3 adenine nucleotides, 2 nucleotide sugars, 18 phosphorylated compounds in CCM, and Acetyl-CoA in a 20-minute run using both ESI modes. An optimal concentration of medronic acid with a BEH Amide column at high pH prevented metal adsorption, and low quantification limits (10 to 50 nM) for labile intermediates such as PEP, ATP and RUBP were achieved. Retention time variations remained below 1.3%, and over 90% of analytes showed high linearity (R2 > 0.990) across dynamic ranges spanning two to three orders of magnitude (typically 0.01-0.5 uM up to 15-20 uM). For sample preparation, glass-fiber filters (GF/C) outperformed nitrocellulose for harvesting C. reinhardtii. For A. thaliana, it was proved that no further grinding with micro pestle and extended cooling were necessary. A two-phase chloroform/methanol/water extraction was essential, as a single-phase extraction co-extracted green chlorophyll, which heavily suppressed phosphorylated signals. In Arabidopsis, glutamate, fumaric acid and citric acid were the dominant primary pools, indicating the importance of dilution and column washing for preventing carryover, and sensitive intermediates were reliably quantified at physiological levels. Together, this unified analytical and extraction strategy enables robust, artifact-free, high-throughput profiling of central metabolism in photosynthetic organisms.
ER -