The hetero-nuclear NMR-based metabolomics and metabonomics : From plant to animal systems

Abstract

Here, we propose that the NMR will become a key technology in metabolomics studies using both uniform stable isotope labeling and advanced hetero-nuclear NMR methodologies. To demonstrate the power of this approach, we performed multi-dimensional hetero-nuclear NMR analysis of metabolic movement of carbon and nitrogen nucleus in Arabidopsis thaliana . First, inexpensive, and non-harmful uniform ¹³C labeling into higher plants was achieved by photosynthetic incorporation of ¹³CO₂. Furthermore, we followed carbon and nitrogen fluxes in ¹³C, 15N-labeled seeds during the initiation of germination in vivo. These uniformly stable isotope labeled plant samples cab be fed in animal systems and their metabolic responses can be followed by the hetero-nuclear NMR. This concept, quantitative measurements of metabolic responses of multicellular systems to administrative stimuli would be worth to the extended interpretation of metabonomics. We attempted the metabonomics approach in Bombyx mori, and it can be further extended to higher animal systems.