PubMed

Comp Biochem Physiol B Biochem Mol Biol. 2023 Mar 29:110851. doi: 10.1016/j.cbpb.2023.110851. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTIn the present study, we examined the metabolic composition of black soldier fly (BSF) larvae from natural populations (Ruhama: R and She'ar Yashuv: S) and from a laboratory-reared colony (C) using untargeted metabolomics analysis. The results revealed significant over-accumulation of metabolites from phenylalanine and purine metabolism and biosynthesis of phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan, and arginine in both natural populations, and enriched pathway analysis, compared to the laboratory-reared colony. In addition, we found accumulation of glutathione metabolism and aminoacyl tRNA biosynthesis related metabolites in R, and linoleic acid and tryptophan metabolism related metabolites in S. Moreover, we found down-accumulation of metabolites belonging to alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism in both natural populations: amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism only in the R population and aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism only in the S population. Overall, the results suggest that the naturally growing larvae require large quantities of metabolites from aromatic amino acids (phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan) for defense against pathogens under natural conditions e.g., melanization. In addition, glutathione metabolites help the BSF to survive under oxidative stress and microbial infection, respectively. Further study of the functional metabolomics of naturally growing and laboratory-reared larvae could provide a platform for better understanding of BSF larval survival mechanisms in complex environments.PMID:37001582 | DOI:10.1016/j.cbpb.2023.110851

J Environ Manage. 2023 Mar 29;338:117826. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.117826. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTMicrobially induced calcium precipitation (MICP) driven by denitrification has attracted extensive attention due to its application potential in nitrate removal from calcium-rich groundwater. However, little research has been conducted on this technique at the molecular level. Here, Pseudomonas WZ39 was used to explore the molecular mechanisms of nitrate-dependent MICP and the effects of Ca2+ on bacterial transcriptional regulation and metabolic response. The results exhibited that appropriate Ca2+ concentration (4.5 mM) can promote denitrification and the production of ATP, EPSs, and SMPs. Genome-wide analysis showed that the nitrate-dependent MICP was accomplished through heterotrophic denitrification and CO2 capture. During this process, EPS biosynthesis and Ca2+ signaling regulation were involved in the nucleation template supply and Ca2+ homeostasis balance. Untargeted transcriptome- and metabolome-association analyses revealed that the addition of Ca2+ triggered the significant up-regulation in several key pathways, such as transmembrane transporter and channel activities, amino acid metabolism, fatty acid biosynthesis, and carbon metabolism, which played a momentous role in the mineral nucleation and energy provision. The detailed information provided novel insights for understanding the active control of bacteria on MICP, and has great significance for deepening the cognition of groundwater remediation using nitrate-dependent MICP technique.PMID:37001427 | DOI:10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.117826

Talanta. 2023 Mar 23;259:124477. doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2023.124477. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTDirect-infusion tandem mass spectrometry (DI-MS/MS) is an excellent tool for large cohort high-throughput quantitative metabolomics, MS imaging and single cell studies but incapable of discriminating isomers/isobars with similar MS spectral features. With experimental and density-functional theory (DFT) approaches, here, we comprehensively investigated the fragmentation pathways and characteristics of differential ion-mobility spectrometry (DMS) for three citrate isomers (citrate, isocitrate, glucaro-1,4-lactone) and an isobar (quinate) co-existing in biological sample such as urine. Results showed that all these compounds gave better MS spectra in negative-ion mode than positive-ion one and had numerous fragment ions under collision-induced dissociation (CID) with sequential losses of H2O and CO2. All observed fragment ions were assignable by combining experimental with DFT calculation results. A DI-DMS-MS/MS method was then developed to simultaneously quantify these four isomers/isobars with m/z 191-87 (CoV, -5.5 V), 191-73 (CoV, -3.5 V), 191-85 (CoV, -29.5 V) and m/z 191-93 (CoV, -41.5 V) for citrate, isocitrate, glucaro-1,4-lactone and quinate, respectively. The low limit-of-quantification was below 5.5 nM whilst accuracy was above 94% for all above compounds. The urinary concentrations of them in human and C57BL/6 mouse samples were further quantified showing clear inter-individual and inter-species level differences with significantly higher levels of isocitrate, glucaro-1,4-lactone and quinate in human urine samples than mouse ones. This provides an approach to understand the detailed fragmentation pathways for organic isomers/isobars and a high-throughput MS strategy to quantify them in complex mixtures for metabolomics, lipidomics, foodomics and exposomics especially when chromatographic separations are not useable.PMID:37001399 | DOI:10.1016/j.talanta.2023.124477

Plant Physiol Biochem. 2023 Mar 24;197:107667. doi: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.107667. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTVitis vinifera 'Yan73' is a teinturier grape cultivar with red flesh. To explore the mechanism of berry color development, we performed an integrated flavonoid-targeted analysis of the metabolome and transcriptome of the skin and flesh of Yan73 berries collected at three phenological stages (E-L 31, E-L 35, and E-L 38). We identified 234 flavonoid-related metabolites, including 61 flavonols, 22 anthocyanins, and 61 other flavonoids. Most flavonoid metabolites accumulated continuously during berry development and attained the highest contents in the skin at E-L 38. The transcript level of crucial genes (C4H, CHS, and GST) was highest in the skin at E-L 38. Seventeen distinct modules were identified in a weighted gene correlation network analysis. The MEcoral1 module was probably correlated with flavonoid metabolism and comprised 623 unigenes. The findings provide insights into the regulation of flavonoid metabolites during berry development of Yan73 grape.PMID:37001306 | DOI:10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.107667

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Mar 29;879:163089. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163089. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTZero-valent iron nanoparticles (nZVI) were widely used material in environmental remediation, which has attracted increasing concern for their safety. Previous studies have shown that the addition of nZVI could inhibit rice seedling growth. However, the effect of nZVI on the soil-rice system during the entire life cycle was not reported. Furthermore, the effect of nZVI on the quality of rice grain has also not been studied. Therefore, we investigated the effects of rice grain yield and nutritional quality upon exposure nZVI. The results showed that the soil pH value, redox potential and Fe (II) content in the nZVI-treated group were decreased in a dose-dependent manner. Interestingly, 2500 mg/kg nZVI significantly decreased the relative abundance of several functional microbial communities (10.52-73.53 %) associated with carbon and nitrogen cycles in response to plants compared to the control. Meanwhile, the nZVI treatment clearly reduced grain yield (8.71-18.21 %). Furthermore, the content of protein (51.72-57.79 %) and several essential nutrients (Zn, Cu, Mn and Mo) in the nZVI-treated grains was also decreased in a dose-dependent manner. The results of grain metabolomics indicated that nZVI could interfere with the relative expression of lysine and glutathione by regulating the metabolic pathways of antioxidant and protein synthesis in rice.PMID:37001268 | DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163089

J Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci. 2023 Mar 21;1221:123687. doi: 10.1016/j.jchromb.2023.123687. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTVitamin D is important because it has roles in maintaining musculoskeletal health, redox homeostasis, and the immune system; however, it is commonly dysregulated by endocrine disrupting chemicals, particularly phthalates and bisphenol A (BPA). Continuous exposure to phthalates and BPA may alter the endogenous metabolite profiles associated with vitamin D activity, although the specific metabolites are yet to be identified. In this study, we identified the endogenous metabolites altered by phthalates and BPA exposure through untargeted metabolic profiling and investigated the role of these metabolites in vitamin D activity. Plasma metabolic profiling using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was performed in two groups: severe 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) deficiency and high exposure to phthalates and BPA (Group A) and 25(OH)D deficiency and low exposure to phthalates and BPA (Group B). Multivariate analysis revealed a distinct separation between the two groups. A total of six metabolites were annotated, of which levels of two were significantly different between the two groups: platelet-activating factor (PAF) C16 or lysophosphatidylcholine (lysoPC) 18:0, and 11Z-eicosenamide. Plasma levels of PAF C16 or lysoPC 18:0 were increased in Group A and exhibited an area under the curve of 0.769 with an accuracy of 74.4% in a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. These metabolites are generated as byproducts of lipid peroxidation, which supports the fact that phthalates and BPA induce oxidative stress in cells. Furthermore, PAF C16 and lysoPC 18:0 may be involved in the network that interferes with the antioxidant activity of vitamin D upon exposure to phthalates and BPA. This study results provide useful information on how the activity of vitamin D on the antioxidant system is inhibited when exposure to phthalates and BPA.PMID:37001203 | DOI:10.1016/j.jchromb.2023.123687

Aquat Toxicol. 2023 Mar 23;258:106508. doi: 10.1016/j.aquatox.2023.106508. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTCarbon quantum dots (CQDs) have received increasing attention in recent years for their potential toxicity. However, little is known about their neurobehavioral toxicity. This study aimed to investigate the potential mechanisms by which probiotics reduce CQDs neurotoxicity from a brain-gut axis perspective by exposing carp to CQDs and/or probiotics for five weeks. The results showed that CQDs accumulation in the brain reduces the expression of blood-brain-barrier (BBB) related genes in carp, leading to brain damage. In addition, CQDs impaired motor behavior and inhibited acetylcholinesterase activity. These abnormalities were alleviated by probiotic supplementation. Microbiomic analysis showed that probiotics improved the imbalance of intestinal flora caused by CQDs and increased the abundance of Firmicutes. Serum metabolomic analysis showed that probiotic supplementation restored the abnormal metabolic levels associated with neurological, inflammatory, and apoptotic cell death caused by CQDs. Overall, probiotic supplementation improved the CQDs-induced changes in brain damage, gut microbiology, and systemic metabolism. These results suggests that CQDs may cause neurotoxicity via the brain-gut microbial axis.PMID:37001197 | DOI:10.1016/j.aquatox.2023.106508

PLoS One. 2023 Mar 31;18(3):e0283869. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0283869. eCollection 2023.ABSTRACTDuchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is caused by genetic mutations leading to lack of dystrophin in skeletal muscle. A better understanding of how objective biomarkers for DMD vary across subjects and over time is needed to model disease progression and response to therapy more effectively, both in pre-clinical and clinical research. We present an in-depth characterization of disease progression in 3 murine models of DMD by multiomic analysis of longitudinal trajectories between 6 and 30 weeks of age. Integration of RNA-seq, mass spectrometry-based metabolomic and lipidomic data obtained in muscle and blood samples by Multi-Omics Factor Analysis (MOFA) led to the identification of 8 latent factors that explained 78.8% of the variance in the multiomic dataset. Latent factors could discriminate dystrophic and healthy mice, as well as different time-points. MOFA enabled to connect the gene expression signature in dystrophic muscles, characterized by pro-fibrotic and energy metabolism alterations, to inflammation and lipid signatures in blood. Our results show that omic observations in blood can be directly related to skeletal muscle pathology in dystrophic muscle.PMID:37000843 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0283869

Mol Omics. 2023 Mar 31. doi: 10.1039/d2mo00305h. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTIntrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is a pregnancy-specific hepatobiliary disease, leading to an abnormal increase in total bile acid in the blood of pregnant women. To systematically explore the similarities and differences in metabolites and metabolic pathways among three types of biological samples from ICP women, a study of 18 ICP and 6 healthy (as a normal control) pregnant women was performed to investigate their clinical information and biochemical features. Based on validated LC-MS/MS methods 1-5 for hydrophilic and hydrophobic metabolites (molecular weight <2000 Dalton), an untargeted-metabolomic strategy was applied to 24 pregnant women to determine the metabolites from 22 serum, 15 placental and 22 urine samples. Then 1137 metabolites from serum, 876 metabolites from placental tissue and 311 metabolites from urine with a coefficient of variation <30% in the pooled quality control samples were found. Furthermore, orthogonal partial least squares-discriminate analysis (OPLS-DA), correlation analysis, chemical enrichment analysis and metabolic pathway analysis were carried out by a bioinformatics process. On the OPLS-DA model analysis, the metabolites in urine were better than those in serum or placental tissue to reflect the metabolic changes of ICP disease. Some metabolites were significantly changed in serum (n = 71), placental tissue (n = 46) and urine (n = 36), such as bile acids, triacylglycerols, lysoPCs, and steroids. Primary bile acid biosynthesis was the main metabolic pathway in ICP disease, and taurine and hypotaurine metabolism and sphingolipid metabolism were also found. More specifically, bile acids increased and steroids decreased in the serum, placental and urine samples. For complex metabolic diseases such as ICP disease, untargeted-metabolomic analysis of multiple biological samples could provide a systematic understanding of the changes in metabolic types and pathways.PMID:37000693 | DOI:10.1039/d2mo00305h

Food Funct. 2023 Mar 31. doi: 10.1039/d2fo03110h. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTCognitive impairment is the main central nervous system complication of diabetes, affecting the quality of life of patients. Herba Cistanche is a homologous plant widely used as a health food and therapeutic drug. Verbascoside, a signature component of Herba Cistanche, has anti-diabetic and neuroprotective effects. However, it is quickly metabolized by the gut microbiota, and the mechanism of its neuroprotection and improvement of learning and memory remains unclear. We investigated the effectiveness and potential mechanisms of verbascoside on cognitive dysfunction in db/db mice using a 16S rRNA microbiome and serum metabolomics approach. We found that 12-week treatment with verbascoside significantly inhibited insulin resistance, reduced blood glucose and lipids, and improved cognitive deficits. In addition, verbascoside increased the gut microbiota diversity, improved intestinal dysbiosis, attenuated intestinal barrier disruption, reduced the levels of inflammatory factors, regulated the expression of the metabolites associated with cognitive function, and enhanced the central insulin sensitivity and hippocampal synaptogenesis signaling. We revealed that verbascoside induced the enrichment of Alistipes, Roseburia, and Intestinimonas in the gut, suppressed the abundance of Escherichia-Shigella, increased the serum levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid, L-glutamic acid, and L-lysine, and decreased taurine expression. Finally, a strong association between gut microbes, serum metabolites, and cognitive performance affected by verbascoside was observed. Our research suggests that alterations in gut microbes/metabolites are involved in the development of diabetic cognitive dysfunction, which is alleviated by verbascoside in the db/db mice through restructuring the gut microbiota composition, ameliorating diabetic metabolic disorders, and attenuating pathological brain damage.PMID:37000613 | DOI:10.1039/d2fo03110h

Hepatol Int. 2023 Mar 31. doi: 10.1007/s12072-023-10518-9. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTBACKGROUND AND AIM: The prevalence and severity of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) are increasing. The incidence of alcohol-related cirrhosis has risen up to 2.5%. This study aimed to identify novel metabolite mechanisms involved in the development of ALD in patients. The use of gut microbiome-derived metabolites is increasing in targeted therapies. Identifying metabolic compounds is challenging due to the complex patterns that have long-term effects on ALD. We investigated the specific metabolite signatures in ALD patients.METHODS: This study included 247 patients (heathy control, HC: n = 62, alcoholic fatty liver, AFL; n = 25, alcoholic hepatitis, AH; n = 80, and alcoholic cirrhosis, AC, n = 80) identified, and stool samples were collected. 16S rRNA sequencing and metabolomics were performed with MiSeq sequencer and liquid chromatography coupled to time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (LC-TOF-MS), respectively. The untargeted metabolites in AFL, AH, and AC samples were evaluated by multivariate statistical analysis and metabolic pathotypic expression. Metabolic network classifiers were used to predict the pathway expression of the AFL, AH, and AC stages.RESULTS: The relative abundance of Proteobacteria was increased and the abundance of Bacteroides was decreased in ALD samples (p = 0.001) compared with that in HC samples. Fusobacteria levels were higher in AH samples (p = 0.0001) than in HC samples. Untargeted metabolomics was applied to quantitatively screen 103 metabolites from each stool sample. Indole-3-propionic acid levels are significantly lower in AH and AC (vs. HC, p = 0.001). Indole-3-lactic acid (ILA: p = 0.04) levels were increased in AC samples. AC group showed an increase in indole-3-lactic acid (vs. HC, p = 0.040) level. Compared with that in HC samples, the levels of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs: acetic acid, butyric acid, propionic acid, iso-butyric acid, and iso-valeric acid) and bile acids (lithocholic acids) were significantly decreased in AC. The pathways of linoleic acid metabolism, indole compounds, histidine metabolism, fatty acid degradation, and glutamate metabolism were closely associated with ALD metabolism.CONCLUSIONS: This study identified that microbial metabolic dysbiosis is associated with ALD-related metabolic dysfunction. The SCFAs, bile acids, and indole compounds were depleted during ALD progression.CLINICAL TRIAL: Clinicaltrials.gov, number NCT04339725.PMID:37000389 | DOI:10.1007/s12072-023-10518-9

Exp Dermatol. 2023 Mar 31. doi: 10.1111/exd.14796. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTRecent metabolic studies have indicated that several metabolites in blood and urine of psoriasis functionally involved in the pathogenesis of psoriasis, but the skin metabonomics research of psoriasis is limited. We aimed to investigate the metabolic profiling of lesional and nonlesional skin and screen out potential biomarkers for psoriasis. We performed liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based nontargeted metabolomic analysis to compare metabolic profile between lesional and nonlesional skin from 12 patients with psoriasis vulgaris. A total of 3463 metabolites were detected, of which 769 (346 named and 423 unnamed) in positive ion mode and 179 (80 named and 99 unnamed) in negative ion mode were significantly different between lesional and nonlesional skin. These different metabolites were mainly derived from amino acid, lipid and nucleotide metabolism, and involved in cell proliferation and apoptosis regulation. Fourteen metabolites (10 upregulated and 4 downregulated) were identified as the most potentially significant biomarkers. Interestingly, seven of them were positively (l-gamma-glutamyl-l-leucine, 2-methylcitric acid, l-palmitoylcarnitine, inosine, eicosapentaenoic acid and 13-hydroxy-octadecaenoic acid) or negatively (l-serine) correlated with disease severity. Significant differences of metabolic characteristics were found between lesional and nonlesional skin, which may contribute to assess the severity of psoriasis and therapeutic responses.PMID:36999576 | DOI:10.1111/exd.14796

Hepatology. 2023 Apr 3. doi: 10.1097/HEP.0000000000000375. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTBACKGROUND AIMS: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), characterized by inflammation and fibrosis, is emerging as a leading etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Lipidomics analyses in the liver have shown that the levels of polyunsaturated phosphatidylcholine (PC) are decreased in NASH patients, but the roles of membrane PC composition in the pathogenesis of NASH has not been investigated. Lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase 3 (LPCAT3), a phospholipid (PL) remodeling enzyme that produces polyunsaturated PLs, is a major determinant of membrane PC content in the liver.APPROACH RESULTS: The expression of LPCAT3 and the correlation between its expression and NASH severity were analyzed in human patient samples. We examined the effect of Lpcat3 deficiency on NASH progression using Lpcat3 liver specific knockout mice (LKO). RNA sequencing, lipidomics, and metabolomics were performed in liver samples. Primary hepatocytes and hepatic cell lines were used for in vitro analyses. We show that LPCAT3 is dramatically suppressed in human NASH livers, and its expression is inversely correlated with NAFLD activity score and fibrosis stage. Loss of Lpcat3 in mouse liver promotes both spontaneous and diet-induced NASH/HCC. Mechanistically, Lpcat3 deficiency enhances reactive oxygen species production due to impaired mitochondrial homeostasis. Loss of Lpcat3 increases inner mitochondrial membrane PL saturation and elevates stress-induced autophagy, resulting in reduced mitochondrial content and increased fragmentation. Furthermore, overexpressing Lpcat3 in the liver ameliorates inflammation and fibrosis of NASH.CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that membrane PL composition modulates the progression of NASH and that manipulating LPCAT3 expression could be an effective therapeutic for NASH.PMID:36999536 | DOI:10.1097/HEP.0000000000000375

NMR Biomed. 2023 Mar 30:e4941. doi: 10.1002/nbm.4941. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe diagnosis of pediatric tuberculosis (TB) remains a major challenge; hence the evaluation of new tools for improved diagnostics is urgently required. We investigated the serum metabolic profile of children with culture-confirmed intra-thoracic TB (ITTB) (n=23) and compared it with those of non-TB controls (NTC) (n=13) using the proton (1 H) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy-based targeted and untargeted metabolomics approach. In targeted metabolic profiling, five metabolites (histidine (His), glycerophosphocholine (GPC), creatine/phosphocreatine (Cr/PCr), acetate (Ace), and choline (Cho)) differentiated TB children from NTC. Additionally, seven discriminatory metabolites [(N-α-acetyl-lysine (NAAL), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), phenylalanine (Phe), lysine (Lys), lipids (Lip), Glutamate+Glutamine (Glu+Gln), and dimethylglycine (DMG)] were identified in untargeted metabolic profiling. The pathway analysis revealed alterations in six metabolic pathways. The altered metabolites were associated with impaired protein synthesis, hindered anti-inflammatory and cytoprotective mechanisms, abnormalities in energy generation processes and membrane metabolism, and deregulated fatty acid and lipid metabolisms in children with ITTB. The diagnostic significance of the classification models obtained from significantly distinguishing metabolites showed the sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve of 78.2%, 84.6%, and 0.86, respectively, in the targeted profiling and 92.3%, 100%, and 0.99, respectively, in the untargeted profiling. Our findings highlight detectable metabolic changes in childhood ITTB; however, further validation is warranted in a large cohort of the pediatric population.PMID:36999218 | DOI:10.1002/nbm.4941

Front Nutr. 2023 Mar 14;10:1104926. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1104926. eCollection 2023.ABSTRACTWithering is an important processing stage in green tea, which contributes to the tea flavor quality. The aim of this work was to comprehensively investigate the changes of chemical features and flavor attributes in Longjing green teas produced with five different withering degrees (moisture content of 75.05, 72.53, 70.07, 68.00, and 64.78%, w.b.). Combined with human sensory evaluation, electronic tongue and chromatic differences analysis, an assessment of the relationship between the withering degree and the sensory quality of Longjing tea was obtained. By using a non-targeted metabolomics approach, 69 significantly differential metabolites were screened. As the withering degree increased, most free amino acids and catechin dimers were increased, largely attributed to the hydrolysis of proteins and catechin oxidative polymerization, respectively. The contents of organic acids as well as phenolic acids and derivatives were reduced. Interestingly, flavone C-glycosides decreased overall while flavonol O-glycosides increased. The correlation analysis revealed that metabolites such as theasinensin F, theasinensin B, theaflavin, theaflavin-3,3'-gallate, theaflavin-3'-gallate, malic acid, succinic acid, quinic acid, theanine glucoside and galloylglucose had a greater influence on the taste and color of tea infusion (|r| > 0.6, p < 0.05). Overall, an appropriate withering degree at a moisture content of around 70% is more favorable to enhance the Longjing tea quality. These results may enhance the understanding of green tea flavor chemistry associated with withering and provide a theoretical basis for green tea processing.PMID:36998915 | PMC:PMC10043258 | DOI:10.3389/fnut.2023.1104926

Front Nutr. 2023 Mar 14;10:1142517. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1142517. eCollection 2023.ABSTRACTINTRODUCTION: This study compared differences in physicochemical characteristics of the vinegar made by a mixed culture (MC) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and a pure culture (PC) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.METHODS: The fermentation process was monitored, and metabolomics analysis by Liquid Chromagraphy-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) was applied to the compositional differences between PC and MC vinegars, combined with quantification of organic acids, amino acids and B vitamins.RESULTS: A total of 71 differential metabolites including amino acids, organic acids and carbohydrates, and six possible key metabolic pathways were identified. MC enhanced the malic acid utilization and pyruvate acid metabolism during fermentation, increasing substrate-level phosphorylation, and supplying more energy for cellular metabolism. Higher acidity at the beginning of acetic acid fermentation, resulting from lactic acid production by Lactiplantibacillus plantarum in MC, suppressed the cellular metabolism and growth of Acetobacter pasteurianus, but enhanced its alcohol metabolism and acetic acid production in MC. MC vinegar contained more vitamin B, total flavonoids, total organic acids, amino acids and had a higher antioxidant capacity. MC enhanced the volatile substances, particularly ethyl lactate, ethyl caprate and ethyl caproate, which contributed to a stronger fruity aroma.DISCUSSION: These results indicated the mixed culture in alcoholic fermentation can effectively enhance the flavor and quality of apple cider vinegar.PMID:36998906 | PMC:PMC10043408 | DOI:10.3389/fnut.2023.1142517

Crit Care Explor. 2023 Mar 27;5(4):e0881. doi: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000000881. eCollection 2023 Apr.ABSTRACTPerturbed host metabolism is increasingly recognized as a pillar of sepsis pathogenesis, yet the dynamic alterations in metabolism and its relationship to other components of the host response remain incompletely understood. We sought to identify the early host-metabolic response in patients with septic shock and to explore biophysiological phenotyping and differences in clinical outcomes among metabolic subgroups.DESIGN: We measured serum metabolites and proteins reflective of the host-immune and endothelial response in patients with septic shock.SETTING: We considered patients from the placebo arm of a completed phase II, randomized controlled trial conducted at 16 U.S. medical centers. Serum was collected at baseline (within 24 hr of the identification of septic shock), 24-hour, and 48-hour postenrollment. Linear mixed models were built to assess the early trajectory of protein analytes and metabolites stratified by 28-day mortality status. Unsupervised clustering of baseline metabolomics data was conducted to identify subgroups of patients.PATIENTS: Patients with vasopressor-dependent septic shock and moderate organ dysfunction that were enrolled in the placebo arm of a clinical trial.INTERVENTIONS: None.MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Fifty-one metabolites and 10 protein analytes were measured longitudinally in 72 patients with septic shock. In the 30 patients (41.7%) who died prior to 28 days, systemic concentrations of acylcarnitines and interleukin (IL)-8 were elevated at baseline and persisted at T24 and T48 throughout early resuscitation. Concentrations of pyruvate, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, and angiopoietin-2 decreased at a slower rate in patients who died. Two groups emerged from clustering of baseline metabolites. Group 1 was characterized by higher levels of acylcarnitines, greater organ dysfunction at baseline and postresuscitation (p < 0.05), and greater mortality over 1 year (p < 0.001).CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with septic shock, nonsurvivors exhibited a more profound and persistent dysregulation in protein analytes attributable to neutrophil activation and disruption of mitochondrial-related metabolism than survivors.PMID:36998529 | PMC:PMC10047616 | DOI:10.1097/CCE.0000000000000881

Open Life Sci. 2023 Mar 27;18(1):20220556. doi: 10.1515/biol-2022-0556. eCollection 2023.ABSTRACTUnit variance (UV) scaling, mean centering (CTR) scaling, and Pareto (Par) scaling are three commonly used algorithms in the preprocessing of metabolomics data. Based on our NMR-based metabolomics studies, we found that the clustering identification performances of these three scaling methods were dramatically different as tested by the spectra data of 48 young athletes' urine samples, spleen tissue (from mice), serum (from mice), and cell (from Staphylococcus aureus) samples. Our data suggested that for the extraction of clustering information, UV scaling could serve as a robust approach for NMR metabolomics data for the identification of clustering analysis even with the existence of technical errors. However, for the purpose of discriminative metabolite identification, UV scaling, CTR scaling, and Par scaling could equally extract discriminative metabolites efficiently based on the coefficient values. Based on the data presented in this study, we propose an optimal working pipeline for the selection of scaling algorithms in NMR-based metabolomics analysis, which has the potential to serve as guidance for junior researchers working in the NMR-based metabolomics research field.PMID:36998512 | PMC:PMC10044292 | DOI:10.1515/biol-2022-0556

Front Microbiol. 2023 Mar 14;14:1089525. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1089525. eCollection 2023.ABSTRACTTermites are key decomposers of dead plant material involved in the organic matter recycling process in warm terrestrial ecosystems. Due to their prominent role as urban pests of timber, research efforts have been directed toward biocontrol strategies aimed to use pathogens in their nest. However, one of the most fascinating aspects of termites is their defense strategies that prevent the growth of detrimental microbiological strains in their nests. One of the controlling factors is the nest allied microbiome. Understanding how allied microbial strains protect termites from pathogen load could provide us with an enhanced repertoire for fighting antimicrobial-resistant strains or mining for genes for bioremediation purposes. However, a necessary first step is to characterize these microbial communities. To gain a deeper understanding of the termite nest microbiome, we used a multi-omics approach for dissecting the nest microbiome in a wide range of termite species. These cover several feeding habits and three geographical locations on two tropical sides of the Atlantic Ocean known to host hyper-diverse communities. Our experimental approach included untargeted volatile metabolomics, targeted evaluation of volatile naphthalene, a taxonomical profile for bacteria and fungi through amplicon sequencing, and further diving into the genetic repertoire through a metagenomic sequencing approach. Naphthalene was present in species belonging to the genera Nasutitermes and Cubitermes. We investigated the apparent differences in terms of bacterial community structure and discovered that feeding habits and phylogenetic relatedness had a greater influence than geographical location. The phylogenetic relatedness among nests' hosts influences primarily bacterial communities, while diet influences fungi. Finally, our metagenomic analysis revealed that the gene content provided both soil-feeding genera with similar functional profiles, while the wood-feeding genus showed a different one. Our results indicate that the nest functional profile is largely influenced by diet and phylogenetic relatedness, irrespective of geographical location.PMID:36998409 | PMC:PMC10043212 | DOI:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1089525

Nutr Metab (Lond). 2023 Mar 30;20(1):17. doi: 10.1186/s12986-023-00737-0.ABSTRACTOBJECTIVE: In this study, differentially expressed metabolites of vascular endothelial cells were examined to further understand the metabolic regulation of ischemic injury by untargeted metabolomics.METHOD: Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were selected to construct an ischemia model using oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) and 0, 3, 6, and 9 h of treatment. After that, cell survival levels were determined by CCK8 detection. Flow cytometry, ROS detection, JC-1 detection, and western blotting were used to measure apoptosis and oxidative stress in cells. Then, combined with UPLC Orbitrap/MS, we verified the impacted metabolism pathways by western blotting and RT‒PCR.RESULTS: CCK8 assays showed that the survival of HUVECs was decreased with OGD treatment. Flow cytometry and the expression of cleaved caspase 3 showed that the apoptosis levels of HUVECs increased following OGD treatment. The ROS and JC-1 results further suggested that oxidative stress injury was aggravated. Then, combined with the heatmap, KEGG and IPA, we found that arginine metabolism was differentially altered during different periods of OGD treatment. Furthermore, the expression of four arginine metabolism-related proteins, ASS1, ARG2, ODC1 and SAT1, was found to change during treatment.CONCLUSION: Arginine metabolism pathway-related proteins were significantly altered by OGD treatment, which suggests that they may have a potential role in ischemic injury.PMID:36998018 | DOI:10.1186/s12986-023-00737-0