Abstract
Metabolomics, which can be defined as the measurement of the level of all intracellular metabolites, has become a powerful new tool for gaining insight into functional genomics. Tracking metabolite changes under different conditions not only provides direct information on metabolic phenotypes but also complementary to gene expression and proteome analysis. Despite its importance, only a limited number of methodologies have been developed for a large- scale metabolome analysis. Here, we propose a new approach to the comprehensive and quantitative analysis of charged metabolite by capillary electrophoresis mass spectrometry (CE-MS). Metabolites were first separated by CE based on their charge and size and then directly and selectively detected by MS by monitoring over a large range of m/z values. Its utility was demonstrated in the analysis of metabolites from Bacillus subtilis extracts, and of 88 metabolites in rice plant and dynamic changes in metabolic levels throughout a period of 24 hours.
