Foodomics as a promising tool to investigate the mycobolome

Abstract

The huge variety of mycotoxins requires mass spectrometric approaches as they are applied to metabolomics in its targeted and non-targeted analytical forms. For quantitation of mycotoxins in targeted metabolomics, liquid chromatography coupled to triple quadrupole, Orbitrap TM or time-of-flight mass spectrometers provide accurate results. For identification in non-targeted metabolomics, combinations of UPLC and high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) are desirable, but mass resolution is compromized by the mass analyzer's scan rates, required for UPLC. In this review, the application of Orbitrap TM , time-of-flight and FT-ICR-MS techniques to mycotoxin research is covered and compared to each other. A superior advantage of all HRMS instruments is that they allow a retrospective data treatment thus preserving the information for later reprocessing. Up to date, ultra high resolving FT-ICR-MS is the only method to unequivocally assign elementary sum formulae but cannot be coupled to UPLC without losing resolution power.

Reading From the Crystal Ball: The Laws of Moore and Kurzweil Applied to Mass Spectrometry in Food Analysis

“…Based on the definition of "foodomics" (1), we recently specified "foodome" as being the "collection of all compounds present at a given time in an investigated food sample and/or in a biological system interacting with the investigated food" (2).…”

“…The food metabolome has been investigated in a targeted way since the past decades, but the last years have seen an increasing number of efforts to investigate the metabolome by non-targeted methods through applying current high-resolution platforms. Among these, e.g., mass spectrometric detectors have already been compared lately (2).…”

Comprehensive Analysis of the Alternaria Mycobolome Using Mass Spectrometry Based Metabolomics

“…These so‐called “modified mycotoxins” are either produced by the fungi themselves or the mycotoxins are metabolized by plants for detoxification purposes . After oral consumption, the modification is potentially hydrolyzed during digestion, which releases the aglycon . In a recently developed LC‐MS/MS method, AOH‐9‐glucoside and AME‐3‐sulfate were detected in naturally contaminated foods demonstrating the necessity to routinely analyze also the chemically modified mycotoxins in agricultural products .…”

“…FTICR‐MS analysis was utilized to investigate alterations between Chlamydia pneumoniae ‐infected and non‐infected Hep‐2 cells and to identify differences in the growth stages of bacteria . Applying FTICR‐MS to foods is called “foodomics” aiming to analyze the functionality, the nutritional value, and the safety of agricultural products . Regarding mycotoxins and related food contaminants, foodomics investigations can support the identification of new or fungal metabolites on foods and can provide further data for proper risk assessments …”

“…Applying FTICR‐MS to foods is called “foodomics” aiming to analyze the functionality, the nutritional value, and the safety of agricultural products . Regarding mycotoxins and related food contaminants, foodomics investigations can support the identification of new or fungal metabolites on foods and can provide further data for proper risk assessments …”