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Mass Spectrometry-Based Profiling of Plant Sphingolipids from Typical and Aberrant Metabolism

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Plant Lipids

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2295))

Abstract

Mass spectrometry has increasingly been used as a tool to complement studies of sphingolipid metabolism and biological functions in plants and other eukaryotes. Mass spectrometry is now essential for comprehensive sphingolipid analytical profiling because of the huge diversity of sphingolipid classes and molecular species in eukaryotes, particularly in plants. This structural diversity arises from large differences in polar head group glycosylation as well as carbon-chain lengths of fatty acids and desaturation and hydroxylation patterns of fatty acids and long-chain bases that together comprise the ceramide hydrophobic backbone of glycosphingolipids. The standard methods for liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based analyses of Arabidopsis thaliana leaf sphingolipids profile >200 molecular species of four sphingolipid classes and free long-chain bases and their phosphorylated forms. While these methods have proven valuable for A. thaliana based sphingolipid research, we have recently adapted them for use with ultraperformance liquid chromatography separations of molecular species and to profile aberrant sphingolipid forms in pollen, transgenic lines, and mutants. This chapter provides updates to standard methods for LC-MS profiling of A. thaliana sphingolipids to expand the utility of mass spectrometry for plant sphingolipid research.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a National Science Foundation grant MCB 1818297 to E.B.C. and J.E.M. A.G.S. acknowledges funding from the Mexican National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Center for Plant Science Innovation, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA

    Rebecca E. Cahoon, Ariadna Gonzalez Solis, Jennifer E. Markham & Edgar B. Cahoon

Authors
  1. Rebecca E. Cahoon
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  2. Ariadna Gonzalez Solis
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  3. Jennifer E. Markham
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  4. Edgar B. Cahoon
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Molecular Physiology and Biotechnology of Plants (IMBIO), University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Dorothea Bartels

  2. IMBIO Institut, Universität Bonn, Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Peter Dörmann

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Cahoon, R.E., Solis, A.G., Markham, J.E., Cahoon, E.B. (2021). Mass Spectrometry-Based Profiling of Plant Sphingolipids from Typical and Aberrant Metabolism. In: Bartels, D., Dörmann, P. (eds) Plant Lipids. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2295. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1362-7_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1362-7_10

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-1361-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-1362-7

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