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Annotation and quantification of N-acyl homoserine lactones implied in bacterial quorum sensing by supercritical-fluid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry

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Abstract

In recent years, use of supercritical-fluid chromatography (SFC) with CO2 as the mobile phase has been expanding in the research laboratory and industry since it is considered to be a green analytical method. This technique offers numerous advantages, such as good separation and sensitive detection, short analysis times, and stability of analytes. In this study, a method for quantification of N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs), signaling molecules responsible for cell-to-cell communication initially discovered in bacteria, by SFC coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) was developed. The SFC conditions and MS ionization settings were optimized to obtain the best separation and greatest sensitivity. The optimal analysis conditions allowed quantification of up to 30 AHLs in a single run within 16 min with excellent linearity (R2 > 0.998) and sensitivity (picogram level). This method was then applied to study AHL production by one Gram-negative endophytic bacterium, Paraburkholderia sp. BSNB-0670. Nineteen known AHLs were detected, and nine abundant HSLs were quantified. To further investigate the production of uncommon AHLs, a molecular networking approach was applied on the basis of the SFC–HRMS/MS data. This led to additional identification of four unknown AHLs annotated as N-3-hydroxydodecanoylol homoserine lactone, N-3-hydroxydodecadienoyl homoserine lactone, and N-3-oxododecenoyl homoserine lactones (two isomers).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (grant ANR-16-CE29-0002-01 CAP-SFC-MS), an Investissement d’Avenir grant managed by Agence Nationale de la Recherche (CEBA, ref ANR-10-LABX-25-01), a joint Agence Nationale de la Recherche and Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) grant (SECIL, reference ANR-15-CE21-0016 and SNF no. 310030E-164289), and a grant from Région Ile-de-France (DIM Analytics).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles, CNRS UPR 2301, Univ. Paris‐Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, Avenue de la Terrasse, 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    Thi Phuong Thuy Hoang, Morgane Barthélemy, Véronique Eparvier & David Touboul

  2. Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire de Biodiversité et Biotechnologies Microbiennes, USR3579, Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls-sur-Mer, Avenue Pierre Fabre, 66650, Banyuls-sur-Mer, France

    Raphaël Lami & Didier Stien

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  1. Thi Phuong Thuy Hoang
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Correspondence to David Touboul.

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Published in the topical collection Current Progress in Lipidomics with guest editors Michal Holčapek, Gerhard Liebisch, and Kim Ekroos.

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Hoang, T.P.T., Barthélemy, M., Lami, R. et al. Annotation and quantification of N-acyl homoserine lactones implied in bacterial quorum sensing by supercritical-fluid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry. Anal Bioanal Chem 412, 2261–2276 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-019-02265-4

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