Comparison of singlequad and Orbitrap mass analyzer coupled to gas chromatography reveals potential of high resolution GC MS for untargeted metabolomics

ABSTRACT:

The development of improved spectrometers and supporting computational tools is expected to eventually enable the rapid annotation of whole metabolomes. However, rarely are novel mass spectrometers directly compared to the previously used ones in the field of metabolomics, thus preventing researchers from gauging the benefits of the investment. LC Orbitrap technology is now widely in use while GC-Orbitrap introduced in 2015 has remained fairly unexplored in its potential for metabolomics research. This study aims to evaluate the additional knowledge gained in a metabolomics experiment when using the GC-Orbitrap in comparison to a unit mass singlequad GC-MS. Samples from an osmotic stress treatment versus a control of the microalga Skeletonema costatum were investigated using comparative metabolomics. Samples from this treatment of a non-model organism were split and measured on both platforms with nearly identical chromatography. Resulting datasets were compared both on a statistical level and on the level of individual compound annotation. Both mass spectrometers successfully classified stressed vs non-stressed microalgae, but the GC-Orbitrap detected more than triple the number of compounds compared to the singlequad mass analyzer, resulting in more readily interpretable annotations. Additionally, one unknown was correctly annotated exploiting high resolution capabilities unavailable to the singlequad mass analyzer. While computational support that specifically utilizes high resolution GC-MS data is still underdeveloped, clear benefits of the GC-Orbitrap technology for metabolomics studies are shown here.

INSTRUMENT(S): Gas Chromatography MS - Positive (GC-MS (Positive))

SUBMITTER: Daniel Stettin 

PROVIDER: MTBLS1104 | MetaboLights | 2020-01-24

REPOSITORIES: MetaboLights