Simultaneous quantification of the lipids phosphatidylcholine, 3-sn-phosphatidylethanolamine, sphingomyelin, and L-α-lysophosphatidylcholine extracted from the tissues of the invasive golden apple snail (Pomacea canaliculata) using UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS.

Lipids such as phosphatidylcholine (PC), 3-sn-phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), sphingomyelin (SM) and L-α-lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) are the major components of biological membranes and play important roles in physiological functions. Here, PC, PE, SM, and LPC were extracted from golden apple snails (GAS, Pomacea canaliculata) and GAS flesh (GASF) using an ethanol/hexane sequential scheme and quantified simultaneously using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS) to evaluate whether the GAS could be the source of the four lipids. Our results suggest that ethanol extracts contained the most crude lipids, and the yield of dry (evaporated) lipids were 3.45 g per 100 g fresh GASF and 1.82 g per 100 g of fresh GAS. Quantification of the lipids using UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS suggested that GAS contained PE, PC, SM and LPC, with SM being the most abundant lipid (after purification: 1.71 and 1.42 mg g-1 dry weight from 100 g of GASF and GAS, respectively). The method we used is cost-effective, and the recovery rates of ethanol and hexane ranged from 80-91% and 87-91% respectively. Overall, GAS and GASF are potential raw materials for lipids such as SM and PC extraction using the ethanol/hexane method. Comparatively, lipids extraction from the GAS is more effective and timesaving. Our finding would provide a way to utilize GAS and potentially control its invasion.

Egg Yolk Phosphatidylethanolamine: Extraction Optimization, Antioxidative Activity, and Molecular Structure Profiling.

Although phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) is an important functional phospholipid, there have been very few reports on its antioxidant activity and corresponding molecular composition. Crude PE was extracted from egg yolk with various solvents, and response surface modeling was carried out to determine the optimum extraction conditions for PE, under which the PE content in extracts reached 58.94 µg/mL. The crude PE was purified using silica gel-based column chromatography. High-purity PE (98%), identified by high-performance liquid chromatography-evaporative light-scattering detector, was obtained using isocratic elution with a mixed solvent (chloroform: methanol: acetic acid = 18:5:1) eluent. PE purified from egg yolk exhibited high radical-scavenging activity, determined by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). The result was attributed to the high unsaturated fatty acids (83.10%) content in egg yolk PE, and the unsaturated fatty acids were identified as PE-16:0/18:1Δ 9 , PE-16:0/18:2Δ 9,12 , PE-16:0/20:4Δ 5,8,11,14 , PE-18:0/18:1Δ 9 , PE-18:0/18:2Δ 9,12 , and PE-18:0/20:4Δ 5,8,11,14 by MALDI-TOF MS combined with gas chromatography mass spectrometry. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: In this work, an attempt has been made to explore the antioxidant activity of PE that extracted and purified from egg yolk and its corresponding molecular composition. Owing to its plentiful unsaturated fatty acids (83.10%), purified PE from egg yolk exhibited a high radical-scavenging activity that indicated that egg-yolk PE had a strong antioxidant activity, and it might exert possible beneficial effects on the human health.

Lipidomic consequences of phospholipid synthesis defects in Escherichia coli revealed by HILIC-ion mobility-mass spectrometry.

Our understanding of phospholipid biosynthesis in Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria is derived from the prototypical Gram-negative organism Escherichia coli. The inner and outer membranes of E. coli are largely composed of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), minor amounts of phosphatidylglycerol (PG) and cardiolipin (CL). We report here the utility of hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) paired with ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) for the comprehensive analysis of the E. coli lipidome. Using strains with chromosomal deletions in the PG and CL synthesis genes pgsA and clsABC, respectively, we show that defective phospholipid biosynthesis in E. coli results in fatty-acid specific changes in select lipid classes and the presence of the minor triacylated phospholipids, acylphosphatidyl glycerol (acylPG) and N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine (N-acylPE). Notably, acylPGs were accumulated in the clsABC-KO strain, but were absent in other mutant strains. The separation of 1-lyso and 2-lyso-phosphatidylethanolamines (lysoPEs) is demonstrated in both the HILIC and IM dimensions. Using our previously validated calibration method, collision cross section values of nearly 200 phospholipids found in E. coli were determined on a traveling wave IM-MS platform, including newly reported values for cardiolipins, positional isomers of lysoPEs, acylPGs and N-acylPEs.

Endometriosis foci differentiation by rapid lipid profiling using tissue spray ionization and high resolution mass spectrometry.

Obtaining fast screening information on molecular composition of a tissue sample is of great importance for a disease biomarkers search and for online surgery control. In this study, high resolution mass spectrometry analysis of eutopic and ectopic endometrium tissues (90 samples) is done using direct tissue spray mass spectrometry in both positive and negative ion modes. The most abundant peaks in the both ion modes are those corresponding to lipids. Species of three lipid classes are observed, phosphatidylcholines (PC), sphingomyelins (SM) and phosphoethanolamines (PE). Direct tissue analysis gives mainly information on PC and SM lipids (29 species) in positive ion mode and PC, SM and PE lipids (50 species) in negative ion mode which gives complementary data for endometriosis foci differentiation. The biggest differences were found for phospholipids with polyunsaturated acyls and alkils. Although, tissue spray shows itself as appropriate tool for tissue investigation, caution should be paid to the interpretation of mass spectra because of their higher complexity with more possible adducts formation and multiple interferences must be taken into account. The present work extends the application of direct tissue analysis for the rapid differentiation between endometriotic tissues of different foci.

Phosphatidylethanolamine targeting for cell death imaging in early treatment response evaluation and disease diagnosis.

Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) is one of the most abundant phospholipids in mammalian plasma membranes. In healthy cells, PE resides predominantly in the inner leaflet of the cell membrane. In dead or dying cells on the other hand, PE is externalized to the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane. The exposure of PE on the cell surface has therefore become an attractive target for the molecular imaging of cell death using single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET). This has motivated the development of PE-specific probes to measure cell death in vitro and non-invasively in vivo. In this review, we highlight the biological roles of PE on cell membranes, and PE exposure as a biomarker of cell death in disease processes, along with the use of PE-binding molecular probes to target PE for the characterization of cell death on a cellular and tissue level. We specifically emphasize the preclinical applications of radiolabeled duramycin for the non-invasive imaging of cell death in animal models of disease and in tumors after therapy. In addition, we discuss the clinical relevance, limitations and future perspectives of this imaging approach of cell death.

Arginine-lysine positional swap of the LL-37 peptides reveals evolutional advantages of the native sequence and leads to bacterial probes.

Antimicrobial peptides are essential components of the innate immune system of multicellular organisms. Although cationic and hydrophobic amino acids are known determinants of these amphipathic molecules for bacterial killing, it is not clear how lysine-arginine (K-R) positional swaps influence peptide structure and activity. This study addresses this question by investigating two groups of peptides (GF-17 and 17BIPHE2) derived from human cathelicidin LL-37. K-R positional swap showed little effect on minimal inhibitory concentrations of the peptides. However, there are clear differences in bacterial killing kinetics. The membrane permeation patterns vary with peptide and bacterial types, but not changes in fluorescent dyes, salts or pH. In general, the original peptide is more efficient in bacterial killing, but less toxic to human cells, than the K-R swapped peptides, revealing the evolutionary significance of the native sequence for host defense. The characteristic membrane permeation patterns for different bacteria suggest a possible application of these K-R positional-swapped peptides as molecular probes for the type of bacteria. Such differences are related to bacterial membrane compositions: minimal for Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus with essentially all anionic lipids (cardiolipin and phosphatidylglycerol), but evident for Gram-negative Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli with a mixture of phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylglycerol. Biophysical characterization found similar structures and binding affinities for these peptides in vesicle systems mimicking E. coli and S. aureus. It seems that interfacial arginines of GF-17 are preferred over lysines in bacterial membrane permeation. Our study sheds new light on the design of cationic amphipathic peptides.

Characterization of phospholipid nitroxidation by LC-MS in biomimetic models and in H9c2 Myoblast using a lipidomic approach.

Under nitroxidative stress conditions, lipids are prone to be modified by reaction with reactive nitrogen species (RNS) and different modifications were reported to occur in fatty acids. However, in the case of phospholipids (PL) studied under nitroxidative stress conditions, only nitroalkene derivatives of phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), were reported when using both in vitro biomimetic conditions and in vivo model system of type 1 diabetes mellitus. Therefore, in order to further explore other nitroxidative modifications of PL, a biomimetic model of nitroxidation combined with liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (MS) and MS/MS approaches were used to characterize the nitrated and nitroxidized derivatives of PCs and PEs. Single and multiple nitrated derivatives of phospholipids (PLs) such as nitroso and dinitroso, nitro, dinitro, and nitronitroso derivatives, together with nitroxidized derivatives were identified. Further, the specific MS/MS fragmentation pathways of these products were studied. Product ions arising from loss of HNO and HNO2, from the combined loss of HNO (or HNO2) and polar head groups, [NOn-FA+On+H]+ and [NOn-FA+On-H]- (n=1-2) product ions corresponding to the modified fatty acyl chains were observed, depending on each modification. The knowledge obtained from the study of the MS/MS fragmentation pattern has allowed us to identify nitrated PCs, including NO2-PC, (NO2)2-PCs, (NO2)(NO)-PC, NO-PC; nitrated PEs, NO2-PEs; and nitroxidized PCs, (NO2)(2O)-PC in H9c2 cells under starvation, but not under ischemia or control conditions. The physiological relevance of this nitrated and nitroxidized PCs and PEs species observed exclusively in cardiomyoblast cells (H9c2) under starvation is still unknown but deserves to be explored.

Regional changes in CNS and retinal glycerophospholipid profiles with age: a molecular blueprint.

We present here a quantitative molecular blueprint of the three major glycerophospholipid (GPL) classes, phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylserine (PS), and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), in retina and six regions of the brain in C57Bl6 mice at 2, 10, and 26 months of age. We found an age-related increase in molecular species containing saturated and monoenoic FAs and an overall decrease in the longer-chain PUFA molecular species across brain regions, with loss of DHA-containing molecular species as the most consistent and dramatic finding. Although we found very-long-chain PUFAs (VLC-PUFAs) (C28) in PC in the retina, no detectable levels were found in any brain region at any of the ages examined. All brain regions (except hippocampus and retina) showed a significant increase with age in PE plasmalogens. All three retina GPLs had di-PUFA molecular species (predominantly 44:12), which were most abundant in PS (∼30%). In contrast, low levels of di-PUFA GPL (1-2%) were found in all regions of the brain. This study provides a regional and age-related assessment of the brain's lipidome with a level of detail, inclusion, and quantification that has not heretofore been published.

Gas-Phase Chemical Separation of Phosphatidylcholine and Phosphatidylethanolamine Cations via Charge Inversion Ion/Ion Chemistry.

The [M + H](+) cations formed upon electrospray ionization of the glycerophospholipids phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) show distinct reactivities upon gas-phase reactions with doubly deprotonated 1,4-phenylenedipropionic acid (PDPA). PC cations undergo charge inversion via adduct formation with subsequent methyl cation and proton transfer to the acid to yield [PC - CH3](-) anions. These demethylated PC anions fragment upon ion trap collision-induced dissociation (CID) to yield products that reveal fatty acid chain lengths and degrees of unsaturation. PE cations, on the other hand, undergo charge inversion via double proton transfer to the two carboxylate moieties in doubly deprotonated PDPA to yield [PE - H](-) anions. These anions also fragment upon ion trap CID to yield product ions indicative of chain lengths and degrees of unsaturation in the fatty acyl moieties. Advantage is taken of this distinct reactivity to separate isomeric and isobaric PC and PE cations present in mass spectra of lipid mixtures. A cation precursor ion population containing a mixture of PE and PC cations is mass-selected and subjected to ion/ion charge inversion reactions that result in separation of PC and PE anions into different mass-to-charge ratios. Mass selection and subsequent ion trap CID of the lipid anions allows for the characterization of the isomeric lipids within each subclass. The charge inversion approach described here is demonstrated to provide increased signal-to-noise ratios for detection of PCs and PEs relative to the standard negative ionization approach as well as improved mixture analysis performance.

[Lipid Composition in Cell Walls and in Mycelial and Spore Cells of Mycelial Fungi].

Qualitative and quantitative differences were found between the lipids of cell walls (CW) and of whole mycelial cells and dormant cells of mucoraceous and ascomycete fungi. Thus, whole mycelial cells (WC) contained more lipids than CW. Unlike sporangiospores and conidia (exogenous dormant spores), zygotes were found to have the highest content of triacylglycerol lipids (70%). Cell walls of mucoraceous fungi contained more triacylglycerols (TAG) and less polar lipids than ascomycete lipids. While all CW and WC studied were similar in fatty acid (FA) composition, their ratio was specific for each structure: linoleic acid predominated in mycelial CW and WC, while oleic acid was predominant in the spores; this difference was especially pronounced in conidial WC. Unlike WC, in CW massive lipids may be represented not by phosphatidylethanolamine (PEA) and phosphatidylcholine (PC), but by free fatty acids (FFA), free (FSt) and etherified sterols (ESt), phosphatidic acid (PA), fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), and glycolipids (GL), which is an indication of a special functional role of CW.

Synthesis and Anti-microbial Activity of Novel Phosphatidylethanolamine-N-amino Acid Derivatives.

The study involved synthesis of five novel amino acid derivatives of phosphatidylethanolamine isolated from egg yolk lecithin employing a three step procedure i) N-protection of L-amino acids with BOC anhydride in alkaline medium ii) condensation of - CO2H group of N-protected amino acid with free -NH2 of PE by a peptide linkage and iii) deprotection of N-protected group of amino acids to obtain phosphatidylethanolamine-N-amino acid derivatives in 60-75% yield. The five L-amino acids used were L glycine, L-valine, L-leucine, L-isoleucine and L-phenylalanine. The amino acid derivatives were screened for anti-baterial activity against B. subtilis, S. aureus, P. aeroginosa and E. coli taking Streptomycin as reference compound and anti-fungal activity against C. albicans, S. cervisiae, A. niger taking AmphotericinB as reference compound. All the amino acid derivatives exhibited extraordinary anti-bacterial activities about 3 folds or comparable to Streptomycin and moderate or no anti-fungal activity against Amphotericin-B.

Studies of the interactions of ursane-type bioactive terpenes with the model of Escherichia coli inner membrane-Langmuir monolayer approach.

Pentacyclic triterpenes (PT), ursolic acid (Urs), and α-amyrin (AMalf) are natural products exhibiting broad spectrum of antibacterial activity. These compounds are membrane-active and can disorder bacterial membranes when incorporated; however, the exact mechanism of their membrane activity is unknown. In our studies, we applied Langmuir monolayer technique supported by Brewster angle microscopy to model the interactions of the selected PT with the lipid matrix of E. coli inner membrane. As the model membrane, we applied mixtures (75/25 mole/.mole %) of the representative Escherichia coli phosphatidylethanolamine (POPE), with the cardiolipin (ECCL) or phosphatidylglycerol (ECPG) extracted from the E. coli inner membrane. On the basis of the recorded isotherms, we performed thermodynamic analysis and calculated free energy of mixing ΔGexc. It turned out that the phospholipids forming the inner membrane of E. coli are ideally miscible, whereas in binary systems composed of PT and POPE, negative deviations from ideality indicating attractive interactions between the investigated PT and POPE molecules were observed. On the other hand, in ternary systems composed of PT, POPE and one of the E. coli anionic phospholipids large positive changes in ΔGexc were observed. Thus, both PT exhibit disorganizing effect on the model E. coli membrane. It was also proved that at low terpene proportion, AMalf can be more active than Urs. However, at higher proportion Urs incorporation can lead to the disintegration of cardiolipin-rich domains present in bacterial membrane.

Mass spectrometric analyses of phospholipids in the S334ter-3 rat model of retinal degeneration.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to profile the endogenous phospholipid species in the retinal tissue of the S334ter-3 rat model of retinal degeneration. Retinal tissue was collected from S334ter-3 rats at postnatal day (P) 20, P30, and P60, while control retinal samples were collected from Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats at the same time points for comparison. METHODS: Lipids were extracted using the Bligh and Dyer method, and resuspended in an acetonitrile/isopropanol (1:1) solution. For lipid analyses, a positive ion-mode precursor ion scan (PIS) was used for phosphatidylcholine (PC; product m/z of 184), a negative ion-mode neutral loss scan (NLS) was used for phosphatidylserine (PS; product m/z of 87.1), and a negative ion-mode PIS was used for phosphatidylinositol (PI; product m/z of 241) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE; product m/z of 196); the analyses were carried out using a TSQ Quantum Access Max mass spectrometer. The samples were directly infused with a Triversa Nanomate using 1.6 kV and 0.4 psi of pressure for the positive ion mode, and 1.3 kV and 0.6 psi of pressure for the negative ion mode, and scanned for 2 min between 200 m/z and 1000 m/z. Ratiometric quantification was performed using quantitative standards for each lipid class. RESULTS: The comparative profiles of PC, PE, PS, and PI between S334ter-3 and control rats showed that there were several lipid species common to both groups, as well as several that were unique to the S334ter-3 group and vice versa. CONCLUSIONS: It was found that the proportions of PC and PS were higher in the control retina compared to S334ter-3, and that the proportions of PE and PI were higher in the S334ter-3 retina compared to control.

Separation and detection of plasmalogen in marine invertebrates by high-performance liquid chromatography with evaporative light-scattering detection.

We have developed a new method for determining ethanolamine plasmalogen contents in marine invertebrates. This quantification method involves derivatization of ethanolamine glycerophospholipid (EtnGpl) subclasses, alkenylacyl (plasmalogen), diacyl, and alkylacyl subclasses, by enzyme treatment and acetylation, followed by separation and detection by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with evaporative light-scattering detection (ELSD). This method enabled complete separation of the subclasses, and the limit of detection for plasmalogen was 200 ng (260 pmol). The peak area of plasmalogen by ELSD was unaffected by the degree of unsaturated fatty acids in EtnGpl, in contrast to ultraviolet (UV) detection. Thus, this method enables accurate determination of plasmalogen contents in various species containing marine products possessing abundant polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). The method developed here was applied to marine invertebrates available in Japan. The examined marine invertebrates showed a wide range of plasmalogen contents ranging from 19 to 504 µmol/100 g wet wt. The plasmalogen levels in samples except those of class Cephalopoda and Crustacea were more than 60 mol% of EtnGpl.

Acinetobacter apis sp. nov., isolated from the intestinal tract of a honey bee, Apis mellifera.

A novel Gram-negative, obligate aerobic, non-motile, and both coccobacillus- and bacillus-shaped bacterium, designated strain HYN18(T), was isolated from the intestinal tract of a honey bee (Apis mellifera). The isolate was oxidase-negative and catalase-positive. Strain HYN18(T) showed optimum growth at 25°C, pH 6-7, and in the presence of 1% (w/v) NaCl in trypticase soy broth medium. The isolate was negative for hydrolyses of starch, casein, gelatin and urea, indole production from tryptone and hemolysis on sheep blood agar. A phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene and rpoB gene sequence showed that strain HYN18(T) was most closely related to Acinetobacter nectaris SAP 763.2(T) and A. boissieri SAP 284.1(T) with 98.3% and 98.1% similarity (16S rRNA gene), respectively, and 84.4% similarity with Acinetobacter nectaris SAP 763.2(T) (rpoB gene). The major cellular fatty acids were summed features 3 (comprising C16:1ω7c /C16:1ω6c ), C12:0 and C16:0. The main isoprenoid quinone was ubiquinone-9 (Q-9). The polar lipids of strain HYN18(T) were phosphatidylethanolamine, three unidentified lipids, an unidentified phospholipid and an unidentified glycolipid. The DNA G+C content was 40.6 mol%. DNA-DNA hybridization experiments indicated less than 33 ± 10% relatedness to the closest phylogenetic species, Acinetobacter nectaris SAP 763.2(T). Thus, the phenotypic, phylogenetic and genotypic analyses indicate that strain HYN18(T) is a novel species within the genus Acinetobacter, for which the name Acinetobacter apis is proposed. The type strain is HYN18(T) (=KACC 16906(T) =JCM 18575(T)).

Solid-phase extraction approach for phospholipids profiling by titania-coated silica microspheres prior to reversed-phase liquid chromatography-evaporative light scattering detection and tandem mass spectrometry analysis.

A novel strategy for selectively adsorbing phospholipids (PLs) on titania-coated silica core-shell microspheres (TiO2/SiO2) was developed. The TiO2/SiO2 microspheres were prepared through water-vapor-induced internal hydrolysis and then characterized by SEM, UV-vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and measurements of Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area. Analyses showed that the titania layer was uniformly distributed onto the surface of silica particles. The TiO2/SiO2 microspheres were employed as sorbent in solid-phase extraction (SPE), and their absorptive ability was investigated by reversed-phase liquid chromatography-evaporative light scattering detection (RPLC-ELSD). Important factors that affect the extraction, such as loading buffer, eluting buffer, and elution volume, were investigated in detail and optimized by using standard samples. Results reveal that the developed SPE approach had higher recoveries for PLs than that based on pure TiO2 particles. The proposed SPE method was used for extraction of PLs from serum and showed great potential for identifying more kinds of endogenous PL metabolites by ultra performance liquid chromatography with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF MS). The proposed SPE method with the composite sorbent was used to screen PLs from a biological matrix with high selectivity and efficiency. This approach is a promising method for selective extraction of PLs in lipidomics or phospholipidomics.

Preparation of marine plasmalogen and selective identification of molecular species by LC-MS/MS.

In this study, we investigated the laboratory-scale preparation and characteristics of ethanolamine plasmalogen from marine invertebrates. The preparation method consists of fractionation by acetone and ether treatment, and separation using column chromatography with silica gel and different eluents. Plasmalogen fractions (Pls fraction) were obtained from the viscera of the ascidian Halocynthia roretzi, and the prominent fatty acids were present as 20:5 (33.0%) and 22:6 (29.6%) n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). The plasmalogen purity was 40%, and the alkenyl chains consisted of 18:0 (86.1%), 16:0 (5.9%) and 18:1 (4.9%). Precursor ion scanning in negative and positive ion modes using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) enabled the profiling of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) molecular species in ascidian viscera. Following LC-MS/MS with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM), the prominent plasmalogen species were found to be 18:0p/20:5 (30.4%) and 18:0p/22:6 (24.6%) (p at sn-1 position indicates alkenyl linkage). In conclusion, this preparative procedure using ascidian viscera as a source achieved 40% pure plasmalogen that was rich in n-3 PUFA. In addition, an LC-MS/MS assay enabled rapid analysis of plasmalogen species with selectivity and sensitivity. The present results will contribute to the understanding of dietary plasmalogen absorption and metabolism.

The expression profile of phosphatidylinositol in high spatial resolution imaging mass spectrometry as a potential biomarker for prostate cancer.

High-resolution matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization imaging mass spectrometry (HR-MALDI-IMS) is an emerging application for the comprehensive and detailed analysis of the spatial distribution of ionized molecules in situ on tissue slides. HR-MALDI-IMS in negative mode in a mass range of m/z 500-1000 was performed on optimal cutting temperature (OCT) compound-embedded human prostate tissue samples obtained from patients with prostate cancer at the time of radical prostatectomy. HR-MALDI-IMS analysis of the 14 samples in the discovery set identified 26 molecules as highly expressed in the prostate. Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) showed that these molecules included 14 phosphatidylinositols (PIs), 3 phosphatidylethanolamines (PEs) and 3 phosphatidic acids (PAs). Among the PIs, the expression of PI(18:0/18:1), PI(18:0/20:3) and PI(18:0/20:2) were significantly higher in cancer tissue than in benign epithelium. A biomarker algorithm for prostate cancer was formulated by analyzing the expression profiles of PIs in cancer tissue and benign epithelium of the discovery set using orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). The sensitivity and specificity of this algorithm for prostate cancer diagnosis in the 24 validation set samples were 87.5 and 91.7%, respectively. In conclusion, HR-MALDI-IMS identified several PIs as being more highly expressed in prostate cancer than benign prostate epithelium. These differences in PI expression profiles may serve as a novel diagnostic tool for prostate cancer.

Molecular characterization and functional analysis of outer membrane vesicles from the antarctic bacterium Pseudomonas syringae suggest a possible response to environmental conditions.

Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) of Gram-negative bacteria form an important aspect of bacterial physiology as they are involved in various functions essential for their survival. The OMVs of the Antarctic bacterium Pseudomonas syringae Lz4W were isolated, and the proteins and lipids they contain were identified. The matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight (MALDI-TOF/TOF) analysis revealed that phosphatidylethanolamines and phosphatidylglycerols are the main lipid components. The proteins of these vesicles were identified by separating them by one-dimensional gel electrophoresis and liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS). They are composed of outer membrane and periplasmic proteins according to the subcellular localization predictions by Psortb v.3 and Cello V2.5. The functional annotation and gene ontology of these proteins provided hints for various functions attributed to OMVs and suggested a potential mechanism to respond to the extracellular environmental changes. The OMVs were found to protect the producer organism against the membrane active antibiotics colistin and melittin but not from streptomycin. The 1-N-phenylnapthylamine (NPN)-uptake assay revealed that the OMVs protect the bacterium from membrane active antibiotics by scavenging them and also showed that membrane and protein packing of the OMVs was similar to the parent bacterium. The sequestering depends on the composition and organization of lipids and proteins in the OMVs.

Specific lipidome signatures in central nervous system from methionine-restricted mice.

Membrane lipid composition is an important correlate of the rate of aging of animals. Dietary methionine restriction (MetR) increases lifespan in rodents. The underlying mechanisms have not been elucidated but could include changes in tissue lipidomes. In this work, we demonstrate that 80% MetR in mice induces marked changes in the brain, spinal cord, and liver lipidomes. Further, at least 50% of the lipids changed are common in the brain and spinal cord but not in the liver, suggesting a nervous system-specific lipidomic profile of MetR. The differentially expressed lipids includes (a) specific phospholipid species, which could reflect adaptive membrane responses, (b) sphingolipids, which could lead to changes in ceramide signaling pathways, and (c) the physiologically redox-relevant ubiquinone 9, indicating adaptations in phase II antioxidant response metabolism. In addition, specific oxidation products derived from cholesterol, phosphatidylcholine, and phosphatidylethanolamine were significantly decreased in the brain, spinal cord, and liver from MetR mice. These results demonstrate the importance of adaptive responses of membrane lipids leading to increased stress resistance as a major mechanistic contributor to the lowered rate of aging in MetR mice.