MRI: Acquisition of an electrospray ionization triple quadrupole mass spectrometer with ion mobility spectrometry for improved plant lipidomics

Kansas State University, Manhattan KS

Investigators

Abstract

An award is made to Kansas State University to acquire a Sciex 6500+ electrospray ionization triple quadrupole mass spectrometer with a linear ion trap, SelexION ion mobility spectrometry, a binary pump, and an autosampler for sample introduction, to be used in analysis of lipids from plants. The instrument is to be housed at the Kansas Lipidomics Research Center, an established analytical laboratory performing mass spectrometry-based lipid analysis at Kansas State University. The mass spectrometer acquisition will directly impact and advance the training of postdoctoral trainees, graduate students, and undergraduates. Early-career faculty and faculty at primarily undergraduate institutions will benefit from access to state-of-the-art lipid analysis. Undergraduates learning and using mass spectrometry will include students at Kansas State University, including participants in the McNair and other undergraduate scholars? programs, and from historically black Fayetteville State University. Training will include an annual workshop on mass spectrometry-based lipid analysis (lipidomics) for faculty and trainees and a research club focused on analysis and interpretation of lipidomics data on crop species. Lipidomics has not reached its ultimate potential as an analytical tool, because the methods, materials, and computational resources to effectively carry out lipid profiling, particularly for plant lipids, are not conveniently available. Thus, Kansas Lipidomics Research Center personnel will aid scientists who wish to implement lipidomics analyses at their institutions by providing consultation, protocols for sample preparation, plug-and-play mass spectral methods, internal standards, and data processing systems, resulting in data suitable for upload to and analysis at a publicly available database. Knowledge obtained through use of the acquired mass spectrometer will be applied to improve food, industry, and energy applications in major crops including sorghum, camelina, and wheat. The acquired Sciex 6500+ mass spectrometer with accessories will provide improved definition of lipid structure while maintaining high sample throughput. The ion mobility spectrometry accessory will improve ability to specify lipid structural features without slowing the analytical work flow, compared to current technologies. The improved lipid structural specificity will provide scientists with the ability to unambiguously assign specific lipids to metabolic maps, connecting quantitative and structural information on plant lipids directly with genes and enzymes, thus transforming our understanding of lipid metabolic pathways in model and crop plants. The mass spectrometer acquisition will deliver critical capabilities for the projects of researchers from fifteen laboratories. Additionally, the mass spectrometer will be made available to new users as well as past and current Kansas Lipidomics Research Center analytical users. Projects will use the high structural definition provided by the Sciex 6500+ with ion mobility spectrometry to link the lipidome accurately with plant genomes and phenomes, while investigating the roles of lipids and the functions of lipid metabolizing and signaling gene products in plants. Lipids will be analyzed in genome wide association studies, and other large-scale studies of genetically variant plant populations, identifying candidate genes putatively functioning in lipid metabolism and signaling during plant stress responses. Other projects will biochemically and functionally characterize lipid metabolic events that occur during plant responses to stress and during growth and development. The new instrument also will advance the work of scientists modifying plant seed oil composition for increased yield and quality. Thus, the acquired mass spectrometer will facilitate food, industrial, and energy crop improvement.