Omics-scale capture of electrophilic metabolites

The majority of metabolic pathways rely on the production of activated electrophilic intermediates, e.g., coenzyme-A esters, and their chemical structures and abundances are central to understanding enzyme function and biochemical mechanisms. However, most electrophilic metabolites are lost in traditional metabolomic analysis and thus remain poorly characterized. Here we introduce a biochemical probe, O-(trimethylammoniobutyl)-hydroxylamine (TAMOHA), that enables comprehensive profiling of electrophilic species such as coenzyme-A esters, ketones, and aldehydes. TAMOHA incorporates a highly nucleophilic hydroxyl amine that reacts quickly with electrophilic species upon tissue lysis, trapping them as stable derivatives that feature a tetraalkylammonium moiety whose constitutive charge and characteristic MS2 fragmentation fingerprint enable their highly sensitive detection. Using TAMOHA to survey the electrophilomes of E. coli, C. elegans, and mouse revealed several thousand electrophilic metabolites, most of which have not been characterized. We then demonstrate trapping of electrophilic metabolites with TAMOHA in the context of specific biochemical pathways, confirming previously proposed functions of two fatty acid metabolism enzymes, detecting formaldehyde production in mice, and providing new insights into the biosynthesis of ascaroside pheromones in C. elegans. We anticipate that use of TAMOHA for the profiling of electrophilic species will help clarify enzyme function and uncover previously elusive biochemical mechanisms in a wide range of biological systems. Table of Contents artwork O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=106 SRC="FIGDIR/small/743530v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (47K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@199c060org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@12516d7org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1fe81f1org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@5277a_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG