Metabolomics-based analysis of the diatom Cheatoceros tenuissimus combining NMR and GC-MS techniques

Afrah Alothman; Abdul-Hamid Emwas; Upendra Singh; Mariusz Jaremko; Susana Agusti

doi:10.1016/j.mex.2024.102695

Metabolomics-based analysis of the diatom Cheatoceros tenuissimus combining NMR and GC-MS techniques

MethodsX. 2024 Apr 3:12:102695. doi: 10.1016/j.mex.2024.102695. eCollection 2024 Jun.

Authors

Afrah Alothman¹, Abdul-Hamid Emwas², Upendra Singh³, Mariusz Jaremko³, Susana Agusti¹

Affiliations

¹ King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Biological and Environmental and Science and Engineering, Marine Science Program, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
² King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Core Labs, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
³ King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Biological and Environmental and Science and Engineering, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Metabolomics, a recent addition to omics sciences, studies small molecules across plants, animals, humans, and marine organisms. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) are widely used in those studies, including microalgae metabolomics. NMR is non-destructive and highly reproducible but has limited sensitivity, which could be supplemented by joining GC-MS analysis. Extracting metabolites from macromolecules requires optimization for trustworthy results. Different extraction methods yield distinct profiles, emphasizing the need for optimization. The results indicated that the optimized extraction procedure successfully identified NMR and GC-MS-based metabolites in MeOH, CHCl₃, and H₂O extraction solvents. The findings represented the spectral information related to carbohydrates, organic molecules, and amino acids from the water-soluble metabolites fraction and a series of fatty acid chains, lipids, and sterols from the lipid fraction. Our study underscores the benefit of combining NMR and GC-MS techniques to comprehensively understand microalgae metabolomes, including high and low metabolite concentrations and abundances.•In this study, we focused on optimizing the extraction procedure and combining NMR and GC-MS techniques to overcome the low NMR sensitivity and the different detected range limits of NMR and GC-MS.•We explored metabolome diversity in a tropical strain of the small cells' diatom Cheatoceros tenuissimus.

Keywords: Diatoms; Extraction; GC–MS; Metabolites profiling; Metabolomics; Microalgae; NMR; Optimizing extraction procedure and combining NMR with GC–MS techniques for comprehensive metabolome analysis of microalgae.