Skip to main content
Log in

Mass spectrometry based analysis of nucleotides, nucleosides, and nucleobases—application to feed supplements

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this work, accurate MS-based methods for quantitative profiling of nucleotides, nucleosides, and nucleobases in yeast extracts used as additives in animal feedstuff are presented. Reversed-phase chromatography utilizing a stationary phase compatible with 100 % aqueous mobile phases resulted in superior analytical figures of merit than HILIC or ion-pair reversed-phase separation. The novel separation method was combined with both molecular and elemental mass spectrometry. By use of RP–LC–MS–MS, excellent limits of detection <1 μmol L−1 could be obtained for all the compounds investigated. The elemental speciation analysis approach enabled determination of nucleotides by phosphorus detection. Sensitivity of LC–ICP–MS was 1–2 orders of magnitude lower than that of LC–MS–MS. Quantitative analysis of yeast products using complementary MS detection furnished values in good agreement.

Reversed phase chromatographic separation of nucleotides, nucleosides and nucleobases combined with mass spectrometric detection

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

ACN:

Acetonitrile

ADP:

Adenosine diphosphate

AMP:

Adenosine monophosphate

As:

Adenosine

ATP:

Adenosine triphosphate

Cd:

Cytidine

CE:

Capillary electrophoresis

CMP:

Cytidine monophosphate

DNA:

Deoxyribonucleic acid

DRC-QMS:

Dynamic reaction cell–quadrupole mass spectrometry

ESI:

Electrospray ionization

FV:

Fragmentor voltage

GMP:

Guanosine monophosphate

Gs:

Guanosine

HILIC:

Hydrophilic-interaction liquid chromatography

HPLC:

High-performance liquid chromatography

IC:

Ion chromatography

ICP:

Inductively coupled plasma

IMP:

Inosine monophosphate

IP:

Ion pair

IS:

Internal standard

Is:

Inosine

k′:

Capacity factor

LC:

Liquid chromatography

LOD:

Limit of detection

MeOH:

Methanol

MRM:

Multiple reaction monitoring

MS-MS:

Tandem mass spectrometry

N:

Number of theoretical plates

NDP:

Nucleoside diphosphate

NMP:

Nucleoside monophosphate

NTP:

Nucleoside triphosphate

RP:

Reversed phase

tR:

Retention time

Ud:

Uridine

UMP:

Uridine monophosphate

References

  1. Zhao J, Fleet GH (1996) Separation of twenty isomers of ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides by reversed-phase ion-pairing high-performance liquid chromatography. J Chromatogr A 732:271–275

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Yamaoka N, Kudo Y, Inazawa K, Inagawa S, Yasuda M, Mawatari K, Nakagomi K, Kaneko K (2010) Simultaneous determination of nucleosides and nucleotides in dietary foods and beverages using ion-pairing liquid chromatography-electrospray ionisation-mass spectrometry. J Chromatogr B 878:2054–2060

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Aussenac J, Chassagne D, Claparols C, Charpentier M, Duteurtre B, Feuillat M, Charpentier C (2001) Purification method for the isolation of monophosphate nucleotides from Champagne wine and their identification by mass spectrometry. J Chromatogr A 907:155–164

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Scholar EM, Brown PR, Parks RE, Calabresi P (1973) Nucleotide Profiles in the Formed Elements of Human Blood Determined by High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography. Blood 41:927–936

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Zhao J, Fleet GH (2005) Degradation of RNA during the autolysis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae produces predominantly ribonucleotides. J Ind Microbiol Biot 32:415–423

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Brovko LY, Romanova NA, Ugarova NN (1994) Bioluminescent Assay of Bacterial Intracellular AMP, ADP, and ATP with the Use of a Coimmobilized Three-Enzyme Reagent (Adenylate Kinase, Pyruvate Kinase, and Firefly Luciferase). Anal Biochem 220:410–414

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Chen X, Yang F, Wang Y, Li S (2010) CE and CEC of nucleosides and nucleotides in food materials. Electrophoresis 31:2092–2105

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Cohen S, Jordheim LP, Megherbi M, Dumontet C, Guitton J (2010) Liquid chromatographic methods for the determination of endogenous nucleotide analogs used in cancer therapy: a review. J Chromatogr B 878:1912–1928

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Cichna M, Daxecker H, Raab M (2003) Determination of 18 nucleobases, nucleosides and nucleotides in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells by isocratic solvent-generated ion-pair chromatography. Anal Chim Acta 481:245–253

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Gill BD, Indyk HE (2007) Development and application of a liquid chromatographic method for analysis of nucleotides and nucleosides in milk and infant formulas. Int Dairy J 17:596–605

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Inue K, Obara R, Akiba T, Hino T, Oka H (2008) Determination of Nucleotides in Infant Formula by Ion-Exchange Liquid Chromatography. J Agric Food Chem 56:6863–6867

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Klawitter J, Schmitz V, Klawitter J, Leibfritz D, Christians U (2007) Development and validation of an assay for the quantification of 11 nucleotides using LC/LC-electrospray ionization-MS. Anal Biochem 365:230–239

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Cordell RL, Hill SJ, Ortori CA, Barret DA (2008) Quantitative profiling of nucleotides and related phosphate-containing metabolites in cultured mammalian cells by liquid chromatography tandem electrospray mass spectrometry. J Chromatogr B 871:115–124

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Seifar RM, van Dam JC, van Gulik WM, Heijnen JJ, van Winden WA (2009) Simultaneous quantification of free nucleotides in complex biological samples using ion pair reversed phase liquid chromatography isotope dilution tandem mass spectrometry. Anal Biochem 388:213–219

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. la Marca G, Casetta B, Malvagia S, Pasquini E, Innocenti M, Donati MA, Zammarchi E (2006) Implementing tandem mass spectrometry as a routine tool for characterizing the complete purine and pyrimidine metabolic profile in urine samples. J Mass Spectrom 41:1442–1452

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Preinerstorfer B, Schiesel S, Lämmerhofer M, Lindner W (2010) Metabolic profiling of intracellular metabolites in fermentation broths from β-lactam antibiotics production by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry methods. J Chromatogr A 1217:312–328

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Xing J, Apedo A, Tymiak A, Zhao N (2004) Liquid chromatographic analysis of nucleosides and their mono-, di-, and triphosphates using porous graphitic carbon stationary phase coupled with electrospray mass spectrometry. Rapid Commun Mass Sp 18:1599–1606

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Pabst M, Grass J, Fischl R, Léonhard R, Jin C, Hinterkörner G, Borth N, Altmann F (2010) Nucleotide and Nucleotide Sugar Analysis by Liquid Chromatography–Electrospray Ionization-Mass Spectrometry on Surface-Conditioned Porous Graphitic Carbon. Anal Chem 82:9782–9788

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Fujii S, Inagaki K, Takatsu A, Yarita T, Chiba K (2009) Determination of phosphorus using capillary electrophoresis and micro-high-performance liquid chromatography hyphenated with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for the quantification of nucleotides. J Chromatogr A 1216:7488–7492

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Fujii S, Inagaki K, Chiba K, Takatsu A (2010) Quantification of phosphorus in DNA using capillary electrophoresis hyphenated with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. J Chromatogr A 1217:7921–7925

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Wrobel K, Landero Figueroa JA, Zaina S, Lund G, Wrobel K (2010) Phosphorus and osmium as elemental tags for the determination of global DNA methylation – A novel application of high performance liquid chromatography inductively coupled mass spectrometry in epigenetic studies. J Chromatogr B 878:609–614

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Edler M, Jakubowski N, Linscheid M (2006) Quantitative determination of melphalan DNA adducts using HPLC – inductively coupled mass spectrometry. J Mass Spectrom 41:507–516

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Edler M, Jakubowski N, Linscheid M (2005) Styrene oxide DNA adducts: quantitative determination using 31P monitoring. Anal Bioanal Chem 381:205–211

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Pröfrock D, Leonhard P, Prange A (2003) Determination of phosphorus in phosphorylated deoxyribonucleotides using capillary electrophoresis and high performance liquid chromatography hyphenated to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry with and octopole reaction cell. J Anal At Spectrom 18:708–713

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Siethoff C, Feldmann I, Jakubowski N, Linscheid M (1999) Quantitative Determination of DNA Adducts Using Liquid Chromatography/Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry and Liquid Chromatography/High-resolution Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. J Mass Spectrom 34:421–426

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Luo B, Groenke K, Takers R, Wandrey C, Oldiges M (2007) Simultaneous determination of multiple intracellular metabolites in glycolysis, pentose phosphate pathway and tricarboxylic acid cycle by liquid chromatography—mass spectrometry. J Chromatogr A 1147:153–164

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Popp M, Hann S, Mentler A, Fuerhacker M, Stingeder G, Koellensperger G (2008) Determination of glyphosate and AMPA in surface and waste water using ion chromatography coupled to inductively coupled plasma dynamic reaction cell mass spectrometry (HPIC–ICP–DRCMS). Anal Bioanal Chem 391:695–699

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Becker JS, Boulyga SF, Pickhardt C, Becker J, Buddrus S, Przybylski M (2003) Determination of phosphorus in small amounts of protein samples by ICP–MS. Anal Bioanal Chem 375:561–566

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Zs S, Koellensperger G, Stingeder G, Hann S (2006) A comparative study of different introduction systems. J Anal Atom Spectrom 21:86–89

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Coulier L, Bas R, Jespersen S, Verheij E, van der Werf MJ, Hankemeier T (2006) Simultaneous Quantitative Analysis of Metabolites Using Ion-Pair Liquid Chromatography – Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry. Anal Chem 78:6573–6582

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Tuytten R, Lemière F, Van Dongen W, Esmans EL, Siegers H (2002) Short capillary ion-pair high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray (tandem) mass spectrometry for the simultaneous analysis of nucleoside mono-, di-, and triphosphates. Rapid Commun Mass Sp 16:1205–1215

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Tuytten R, Lemière F, Van Dongen W, Witters E, Esmans EL, Newton RP, Dudley E (2008) Development of an On-Line SPE–LC–MS Method for Urinary Nucleosides: Hyphenation of Aprotic Boronic Acid Chromatography with Hydrophilic Interaction LC—ESI–MS. Anal Chem 80:1263–1271

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Biomin B.R.A.I.N program and by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG (FHplus projekt METORGANIC).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gunda Koellensperger.

Additional information

Stefan Neubauer and Ariana Rugova contributed equally

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

ESM 1

(PDF 1.09 MB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Neubauer, S., Rugova, A., Chu, D.B. et al. Mass spectrometry based analysis of nucleotides, nucleosides, and nucleobases—application to feed supplements. Anal Bioanal Chem 404, 799–808 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-012-6170-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-012-6170-9

Keywords

Navigation