NMR tools for biotechnology

Recent developments in NMR spectroscopy verify that NMR continues to be an exciting area of research. These advances can be placed into three general categories: new hardware; new techniques; and novel applications. The hardware developments include many advances in the area of flow NMR and some new probe designs. The new techniques include several ways to edit the NMR spectra of mixtures without using chromatographic separation. These new NMR tools are now allowing us to analyze complex mixtures, combinatorial-chemistry libraries, bound drugs, unstable compounds, very small samples, and heterogeneous samples.     

Characterization of Metabolites in IntactStreptomyces citricolorCulture Supernatants Using High-Resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Directly Coupled High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography–Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

A novel NMR spectroscopic approach to the direct biochemical characterization of bacterial culture broths is presented. A variety of one- and two-dimensional 1H NMR spectroscopic methods were used to characterize low-molecular-weight organic components of broth supernatants from cultures of Streptomyces citricolor. By applying 1H NMR spectroscopy to analyze whole, untreated culture supernatants, it was possible to identify and monitor simultaneously a range of media substrates and excreted metabolites. Identified metabolites include 2-phenylethylamine, trehalose, succinate, acetate, uridine, and aristeromycin, a secondary metabolite with antibiotic properties. Directly coupled HPLC-NMR spectroscopy was also applied to the analysis of broth supernatants for the first time, to aid spectral assignments, especially where signals were extensively overlapped in the 1H NMR spectra of the whole broth mixtures. Two-dimensional NMR methods such as 1H-1H correlation spectroscopy, 1H-13C heteronuclear single quantum correlation, and 1H-13C heteronuclear multiple bond correlation aided the structure elucidation and peak assignments of individual components in the mixtures by providing information on 1H-1H coupling networks and 13C chemical shifts. This work shows that high-resolution NMR spectroscopic methods provide a rapid and efficient means of investigating microbial metabolism directly without invasive or destructive sample pretreatment.     

Metabolomic Analysis of Rat Brain by High Resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of Tissue Extracts

Studies of gene expression on the RNA and protein levels have long been used to explore biological processes underlying disease. More recently, genomics and proteomics have been complemented by comprehensive quantitative analysis of the metabolite pool present in biological systems. This strategy, termed metabolomics, strives to provide a global characterization of the small-molecule complement involved in metabolism. While the genome and the proteome define the tasks cells can perform, the metabolome is part of the actual phenotype. Among the methods currently used in metabolomics, spectroscopic techniques are of special interest because they allow one to simultaneously analyze a large number of metabolites without prior selection for specific biochemical pathways, thus enabling a broad unbiased approach. Here, an optimized experimental protocol for metabolomic analysis by high-resolution NMR spectroscopy is presented, which is the method of choice for efficient quantification of tissue metabolites. Important strengths of this method are (i) the use of crude extracts, without the need to purify the sample and/or separate metabolites; (ii) the intrinsically quantitative nature of NMR, permitting quantitation of all metabolites represented by an NMR spectrum with one reference compound only; and (iii) the nondestructive nature of NMR enabling repeated use of the same sample for multiple measurements. The dynamic range of metabolite concentrations that can be covered is considerable due to the linear response of NMR signals, although metabolites occurring at extremely low concentrations may be difficult to detect. For the least abundant compounds, the highly sensitive mass spectrometry method may be advantageous although this technique requires more intricate sample preparation and quantification procedures than NMR spectroscopy. We present here an NMR protocol adjusted to rat brain analysis; however, the same protocol can be applied to other tissues with minor modifications.     

High-throughput,multi-platform metabolomics on very small volumes: 1H NMR metabolite identification in an unadulterated tube-in-tube system

As small animal models of disease become more widely used, there is increasing importance and potential for characterizing their metabolomes. However, as the animal becomes smaller, the amounts of biofluids such as urine and cerebral spinal fluid available for metabolomic studies are more limited. Further, in multi-platform systems biology when the same small sample must be used for several analyses, it is a frequent requirement that no additions are made to the sample (even as simple as D₂O or an NMR chemical shift reference) to maintain sample integrity. Herein we describe a method for high-throughput ¹H-NMR studies using ~30 µl volumes, suitable for biofluid matrices. The compartmentalization of the sample and NMR standards, however, requires chemical shift corrections due to bulk magnetic susceptibility and ionic strength changes for metabolite profiling using a reference library or data-binning of the chemical shift axis. This set-up minimizes the cost of individual data collection per small animal and is suitable for high-throughput, longitudinal, multimodal metabolomic studies of biofluids available in limited quantities.     

Towards automatic metabolomic profiling of high-resolution one-dimensional proton NMR spectra

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and Mass Spectroscopy (MS) are the two most common spectroscopic analytical techniques employed in metabolomics. The large spectral datasets generated by NMR and MS are often analyzed using data reduction techniques like Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Although rapid, these methods are susceptible to solvent and matrix effects, high rates of false positives, lack of reproducibility and limited data transferability from one platform to the next. Given these limitations, a growing trend in both NMR and MS-based metabolomics is towards targeted profiling or "quantitative" metabolomics, wherein compounds are identified and quantified via spectral fitting prior to any statistical analysis.?Despite the obvious advantages of this method, targeted profiling is hindered by the time required to perform manual or computer-assisted spectral fitting. In an effort to increase data analysis throughput for NMR-based metabolomics, we have developed an automatic method for identifying and quantifying metabolites in one-dimensional (1D) proton NMR spectra. This new algorithm is capable of using carefully constructed reference spectra and optimizing thousands of variables to reconstruct experimental NMR spectra of biofluids using rules and concepts derived from physical chemistry and NMR theory. The automated profiling program has been tested against spectra of synthetic mixtures as well as biological spectra of urine, serum and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF). Our results indicate that the algorithm can correctly identify compounds with high fidelity in each biofluid sample (except for urine). Furthermore, the metabolite concentrations exhibit a very high correlation with both simulated and manually-detected values.     

Application of 1H-NMR Metabolomic Profiling for Reef-Building Corals

In light of global reef decline new methods to accurately, cheaply, and quickly evaluate coral metabolic states are needed to assess reef health. Metabolomic profiling can describe the response of individuals to disturbance (i.e., shifts in environmental conditions) across biological models and is a powerful approach for characterizing and comparing coral metabolism. For the first time, we assess the utility of a proton-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-NMR)-based metabolomics approach in characterizing coral metabolite profiles by 1) investigating technical, intra-, and inter-sample variation, 2) evaluating the ability to recover targeted metabolite spikes, and 3) assessing the potential for this method to differentiate among coral species. Our results indicate ¹H-NMR profiling of Porites compressa corals is highly reproducible and exhibits low levels of variability within and among colonies. The spiking experiments validate the sensitivity of our methods and showcase the capacity of orthogonal partial least squares discriminate analysis (OPLS-DA) to distinguish between profiles spiked with varying metabolite concentrations (0 mM, 0.1 mM, and 10 mM). Finally, ¹H-NMR metabolomics coupled with OPLS-DA, revealed species-specific patterns in metabolite profiles among four reef-building corals (Pocillopora damicornis, Porites lobata, Montipora aequituberculata, and Seriatopora hystrix). Collectively, these data indicate that ¹H-NMR metabolomic techniques can profile reef-building coral metabolomes and have the potential to provide an integrated picture of the coral phenotype in response to environmental change.     

Structure elucidation of glycoprotein glycans and of polysaccharides by NMR spectroscopy

The applicability of 1H-NMR spectroscopy for the determination of the primary and tertiary structure of carbohydrate-containing molecules is demonstrated. For classes of known compounds the characterization can be based on chemical shifts observed in 1D NMR spectra with or without the aid of a computer database. For more complex structure determinations 2D NMR techniques are required. Here the application of 2D NMR is demonstrated for the primary structure determination of two bacterial exopolysaccharides, for the spatial structure determination of a disaccharide and a glycoprotein hormone.     

Comparison of 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy for metabolic profiling

High-resolution, liquid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a popular platform for metabolic profiling because the technique is nondestructive, quantitative, reproducible, and the spectra contain a wealth of biochemical information. Because of the large dynamic range of metabolite concentrations in biofluids, statistical analyses of one-dimensional (1D) proton NMR data tend to be biased toward selecting changes in more abundant metabolites. Although two-dimensional (2D) proton-proton experiments can alleviate spectral crowding, they have been mainly used for structural determination. In this study, 2D total correlation spectroscopy NMR was used to compare the global metabolic profiles of urine obtained from wild-type and Abcc6-knockout mice. The 2D data were compared to an improved 1D experiment in which signal contributions from macromolecules and the urea peak have been spectroscopically removed for more accurate quantitation of low-abundance metabolites. Although statistical models from both 1D and 2D data could differentiate samples acquired from the two groups of mice, only the 2D spectra allowed the characterization of statistically relevant changes in the low-abundance metabolites. While acquisition of the 2D data require more time, the data obtained resulted in a more meaningful and comprehensive metabolic profile, aided in metabolite identifications, and minimized ambiguities in peak assignments.     

Biological 1H NMR spectroscopy

Proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H NMR) is a powerful analytical method used to identify and quantitate chemical compounds. In recent years, it has been used to study rates of metabolism in microbes, isolated perfused tissues, intact animals, and human beings. This review highlights some of the more recent biological applications of 1H NMR in the study of metabolic pathophysiology in animals and man. 1H NMR can rapidly analyze complex mixtures of metabolites found in body fluid and biopsy specimens. In vivo 1H NMR methods can measure intracellular pH, a wide variety of metabolites, tissue perfusion, and rates of metabolism of endogenous and exogenous compounds. Using 13C labeled compounds or magnetization transfer techniques metabolic fluxes may be measured in vivo during virtually all normal and abnormal physiological conditions.     

alpha,beta-Dibenzyl-gamma-butyrolactone lignan alcohols: total synthesis of (+/-)-7'-hydroxyenterolactone, (+/-)-7'-hydroxymatairesinol and (+/-)-8-hydroxyenterolactone

Two trans-alpha,beta-dibenzyl-gamma-butyrolactone lignans carrying a hydroxyl group at the beta-benzylic carbon atom and a alpha-hydroxy alpha,beta-dibenzyl-gamma-butyrolactone lignan were synthesized in racemic form using the tandem conjugate addition reaction to construct the basic lignan skeleton. Subsequent reaction steps involved either a catalytic reduction of the regenerated keto group to the alcohol, or a hydrogenolysis to benzylic methylene followed by lactone enolate formation and oxidation to give the alpha-hydroxybutyrolactones. These procedures were applied for the synthesis of 7'-hydroxyenterolactones and 7'-hydroxymatairesinols, and 8-hydroxyenterolactones, respectively. The diastereomeric mixtures of these compounds were separated either by HPLC techniques or column chromatography and the structures were elucidated using NMR spectroscopy.     

Determination of regioisomeric distribution in carbohydrate fatty acid monoesters by LC-ESI-MS

A new LC-ESI-MS method for characterizing the regioisomeric distribution in carbohydrate monoesters with long-chain fatty acids is described. Sucrose monolaurate mixtures were used for development of the method. The surfactant nature and high polarity of these compounds make them appropriate analytes for being detected by electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). Despite the structural similarity of regioisomers, an excellent resolution of all regioisomers present in the different samples studied (sucrose monodecanoates, sucrose monolaurates, sucrose monopalmitates and melezitose monolaurates) is achieved. Reversed-phase liquid chromatography with isocratic acetonitrile-water mixtures was used for a proper separation of the analytes. Finally, the superiority of this chromatographic method for determining the regioselectivity in enzymatic carbohydrate acylation reactions, with respect to the typical methodology based on routine 13C NMR spectroscopy, is also discussed.     

Maximal clique method for the automated analysis of NMR TOCSY spectra of complex mixtures

Characterization of the chemical components of complex mixtures in solution is important in many areas of biochemistry and chemical biology, including metabolomics. The use of 2D NMR total correlation spectroscopy (TOCSY) experiments has proven very useful for the identification of known metabolites as well as for the characterization of metabolites that are unknown by taking advantage of the good resolution and high sensitivity of this homonuclear experiment. Due to the complexity of the resulting spectra, automation is critical to facilitate and speed-up their analysis and enable high-throughput applications. To better meet these emerging needs, an automated spin-system identification algorithm of TOCSY spectra is introduced that represents the cross-peaks and their connectivities as a mathematical graph, for which all subgraphs are determined that are maximal cliques. Each maximal clique can be assigned to an individual spin system thereby providing a robust deconvolution of the original spectrum for the easy extraction of critical spin system information. The approach is demonstrated for a complex metabolite mixture consisting of 20 compounds and for E. coli cell lysate.     

Evaluation of Metabolomic Changes as a Biomarker of Chondrogenic Differentiation in 3D-cultured Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Using Proton (1H) Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the metabolomic changes in 3D-cultured human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) in alginate beads, so as to identify biomarkers during chondrogenesis using ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.

Materials and Methods

hMSCs (2×10⁶ cells/mL) were seeded into alginate beads, and chondrogenesis was allowed to progress for 15 days. NMR spectra of the chondrogenic hMSCs were obtained at 4, 7, 11, and 15 days using a 14.1-T (600-MHz) NMR with the water suppression sequence, zgpr. Real-Time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to confirm that that the hMSCs differentiated into chondrocytes and to analyze the metabolomic changes indicated by the NMR spectra.

Results

During chondrogenesis, changes were detected in several metabolomes as hMSC chondrogenesis biomarkers, e.g., fatty acids, alanine, glutamate, and phosphocholine. The metabolomic changes were compared with the Real-Time PCR results, and significant differences were determined using statistical analysis. We found that changes in metabolomes were closely related to biological reactions that occurred during the chondrogenesis of hMSCs.

Conclusions

In this study, we confirm that metabolomic changes detected by ¹H-NMR spectroscopy during chondrogenic differentiation of 3D-cultured hMSCs in alginate beads can be considered as biomarkers of stem cell differentiation.     

Macrotetrolide antibiotics produced byStreptomyces globisporus

Macrotetrolides isolated from a new producer, Streptomyces globisporus, were identified as nonactin, monactin, dinactin and trinactin. Spectroscopic characterization of these compounds was extended by 13NMR spectra. Chemical ionization with ammonia as reactive gas was proposed for mass-spectroscopic characterization of their mixtures. Their biological activity was confirmed by using larvae of the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) as a new test model.     

Differential metabolic regulation governed by the rice SUB1A gene during submergence stress and identification of alanylglycine by 1H NMR spectroscopy

Although the genetic mechanism of submergence survival for rice varieties containing the SUB1A gene has been elucidated, the downstream metabolic effects have not yet been evaluated. In this study, the metabolomes of Oryza sativa ssp. japonica cv. M202 and cv. M202(Sub1) were profiled using (1)H NMR spectroscopy to compare the metabolic effect of submergence stress and recovery on rice in the presence or absence of SUB1A. Significant changes were observed in the NMR resonances of compounds in pathways important for carbohydrate metabolism. The presence of SUB1A in M202(Sub1) was correlated with suppression of carbohydrate metabolism in shoot tissue, consistent with the role of SUB1A in limiting starch catabolism to fuel elongation growth. The absence of SUB1A in M202 was correlated with greater consumption of sucrose stores and accumulation of amino acids that are synthesized from glycolysis intermediates and pyruvate. Under submergence conditions, alanine, a product of pyruvate metabolism, showed the largest difference between the two varieties, but elevated levels of glutamine, glutamate, leucine, isoleucine, threonine, and valine were also higher in M202 compared with the M202(Sub1) variety. The identification and characterization of alanylglycine (AlaGly) in rice is also reported. After 3 days of submergence stress, AlaGly levels decreased significantly in both genotypes but did not recover within 1 day of desubmergence with the other metabolites evaluated. The influence of SUB1A on dynamic changes in the metabolome during complete submergence provides new insights into the functional roles of a single gene in invoking a quiescence strategy that helps stabilize crop production in submergence-prone fields.