Elucidating the Distribution of Plant Metabolites from Native Tissues with Laser Desorption Low-Temperature Plasma Mass Spectrometry Imaging

Anal Chem. 2019 Feb 19;91(4):2734-2743. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.8b04406. Epub 2019 Jan 30.

Abstract

Secondary metabolites of plants have important biological functions, which often depend on their localization in tissues. Ideally, a fresh untreated material should be directly analyzed to obtain a realistic view of the true sample chemistry. Therefore, there is a large interest for ambient mass-spectrometry-based imaging (MSI) methods. Our aim was to simplify this technology and to find an optimal combination of desorption/ionization principles for a fast ambient MSI of macroscopic plant samples. We coupled a 405 nm continuous wave (CW) ultraviolet (UV) diode laser to a three-dimensionally (3D) printed low-temperature plasma (LTP) probe. By moving the sample with a RepRap-based sampling stage, we could perform imaging of samples up to 16 × 16 cm2. We demonstrate the system performance by mapping mescaline in a San Pedro cactus ( Echinopsis pachanoi) cross section, tropane alkaloids in jimsonweed ( Datura stramonium) fruits and seeds, and nicotine in tobacco ( Nicotiana tabacum) seedlings. In all cases, the anatomical regions of enriched compound concentrations were correctly depicted. The modular design of the laser desorption (LD)-LTP MSI platform, which is mainly assembled from commercial and 3D-printed components, facilitates its adoption by other research groups. The use of the CW-UV laser for desorption enables fast imaging measurements. A complete tobacco seedling with an image size of 9.2 × 15.0 mm2 was analyzed at a pixel size of 100 × 100 μm2 (14 043 mass scans), in less than 2 h. Natural products can be measured directly from native tissues, which inspires a broad use of LD-LTP MSI in plant chemistry studies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alkaloids / analysis*
  • Alkaloids / metabolism
  • Cactaceae / chemistry*
  • Cactaceae / metabolism
  • Cold Temperature
  • Datura stramonium / chemistry*
  • Datura stramonium / metabolism
  • Equipment Design
  • Mescaline / analysis
  • Mescaline / metabolism
  • Nicotiana / chemistry*
  • Nicotiana / metabolism
  • Nicotine / analysis*
  • Nicotine / metabolism
  • Seeds / chemistry
  • Seeds / metabolism
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization / instrumentation
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization / methods

Substances

  • Alkaloids
  • Nicotine
  • Mescaline