Comprehensive discovery of 13C labeled metabolites in the bacterium Methylobacterium extorquens AM1 using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

Abstract

Herein, we report the identification of isotopically labeled metabolite peaks (or the lack of labeling) between sets of GC–MS data from Methylobacterium extorquens AM1. M. extorquens AM1 is one of the best-characterized model organisms for the study of C1 metabolism in methylotrophic bacteria, a diverse group of microbes that can use reduced one-carbon (C1) sources, such as methanol and methane as a sole source for both energy generation and carbon assimilation. Application of a match value (MV) based metric was used to rank the metabolite peaks in the data from those exhibiting the most mass spectral indications of labeling, to those not exhibiting any indications of labeling. The MV-based ranking corresponded well with analyst interpretation of the mass spectra. The MV-based method was initially demonstrated and validated using a mixture of 21 standards with data sets generated for mixtures at natural abundance, a mixture with 6 of the compounds labeled, and a 1:1 mixture of the natural abundance and labeled mixtures. Experimental data from TMS-derivatized extracts from the bacterium M. extorquens AM1 grown with natural abundance or 13C-labeled methanol as the carbon source were analyzed. Of 131 peaks considered for the analysis of M. extorquens AM1, the 40 peaks ranked highest for indications of 13C labeling were all found to be labeled, while those peaks ranked lower progressed from peaks for which labeling was uncertain, to a larger number of peaks that were clearly not labeled. The list of peaks determined to be labeled forms a library of compounds that are known to be labeled following the methanol metabolic pathway in M. extorquens AM1 that can be further investigated in future work, e.g. fluxomic studies.