Microbial Metabolomics

BOC Sciences provides metabolomics services for microbial fermentation. Through this analysis, we can provide an in-depth understanding of the metabolic behavior of microbial fermentation and guide for optimizing fermentation conditions and improving product quality.

What is Microbial Metabolomics?

Microorganisms are small and simple, culture conditions are relatively easy to meet, most microorganisms can be cultured in large quantities in a relatively short period, and metabolic processes can be easily linked to cellular functions or phenotypes. Metabolomics, as a new member of the functional genomics family of research techniques, uses the analysis of microbial cellular metabolites in their entirety to reflect cellular responses to environmental and genetic changes.

Fig.1 Microbial metabolomics analysis. (Ye et al., 2022)

Microbial Metabolomics Services

BOC Sciences efficiently extracts microbial metabolites and analyzes microbial metabolites according to your experimental objectives using different sample processing solutions, thus solving your biological problems and improving the quantity and accuracy of metabolite identification and quantification.

Targeted metabolomics

Identification and quantitative analysis of targeted small molecules, including microbial primary and secondary metabolites.

All-component metabolomics

Unbiased detection of dynamic changes in all small molecule metabolites before and after stimulation or disturbance, screening of differential metabolites by biometric analysis, and pathway analysis of differential metabolites.

What are the Common Microbial Metabolites?

There is a wide variety of metabolites from fermentation, depending on the type of microorganism, culture conditions and fermentation substrate. Common types include the following.

Organic acids (lactic acid, acetic acid, citric acid, etc.)
Alcohols (ethanol, glycerol, propanol, etc.)
Amino acids (glutamic acid, lysine, serine, etc.)
Enzymes (protease, amylase, cellulase, etc.)
Antibiotics (penicillin, streptomycin, tetracycline, etc.)
Bioactive compounds (antitumor substances, antioxidants, antimicrobial substances, etc.)
Odor substances (sulfides, esters, etc.)
Pigments (carotenoids, chlorophylls, etc.)
Plant hormones (gibberellins, growth hormones, etc.)

Procedure of Microbial Metabolomics

Fermentation Sample Collection

Collect samples from the fermentation process, either fermentation broth, fermentation solid waste or fermentation products. Ensure that samples are collected to avoid contamination and that subsequent processing is done as quickly as possible.

Metabolite Extraction

Maintains cell integrity, prevents leakage of metabolites from the cell, and correctly reflects the physiological state of the microbial cell.

Metabolite Analysis

Metabolites are measured and analyzed in extracted samples. Commonly used techniques include gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). These techniques can provide structural information and relative or absolute concentrations of metabolites.

Data Processing and Analysis

The data obtained are processed and analyzed. This includes data preprocessing, normalization, feature selection, and multivariate statistical analysis. Statistical and bioinformatics methods such as principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares regression (PLS-DA) can be used to identify metabolite differences and associations.

Why Choose BOC Sciences?

Avoid exogenous contamination during sample collection and processing to prevent metabolite errors.
Select appropriate extraction methods to ensure that target metabolites can be effectively extracted and the presence of interfering substances minimized.
Select appropriate analytical techniques to obtain high-quality metabolite data.
Standardize and correct for data processing and analysis to eliminate batch effects and other potential sources of variation.
Combine statistical and bioinformatics methods to synthesize and analyze data to discover patterns of metabolite variation and biological significance.

Reference

Ye D, et al. Microbial metabolomics: From novel technologies to diversified applications[J]. TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry, 2022, 148: 116540.