Tandem ambient mass spectrometry applied to monitoring the induction of bioactive molecules in microbial co-culture

• Grant number: 21/12787-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: May 15, 2022
• End date: May 14, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Organic Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Luiz Alberto Beraldo de Moraes
• Grantee: Talita Carla de Tralia Medeiros
• Supervisor: Demian Rocha Ifa
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: York University, Canada
• Associated to the scholarship: 18/03782-3 - Sequential mass spectrometry applied to the monitoring of induction of bioactive molecules in microbial co-culture, BP.DD

Abstract

Actinobacteria, especially of the genus Streptomyces, are an inexhaustible source of bioactive secondary metabolites, particularly for the discovery of new active ingredients of industrial interest. Although actinobacteria have the ability to biosynthesize a wide variety of molecules, recent advances in genome sequencing have shown that these microorganisms have an even greater potential to produce secondary metabolites with a structural diversity still unknown. Thus, many microbial genes can remain silenced "cryptic genes" under the conditions of artificial growth in the laboratory. In the last ten years, several methods have been developed to assist in the activation of these silenced biosynthetic pathways. Alternatively, several strategies have been applied for the activation of silenced microbial pathways, one of which is the co-cultivation that is based on the cultivation of two or more microorganisms confined in the same environment, mimetizing the microbial communities present in nature. These interactions can induce the activation of silenced pathways in isolated cultivation, as both interact with each other through the release of signaling or defense molecules. Mass spectrometry (MS) is the most specific techniquefor the detection and identification of secondarymetabolites, being able to provide accurate molecular mass information as well as a wealth of structural details that together provides a unique fingerprint for each sample constituent, accelerating the identification of unpublished molecules present in complex matrices. Recently, there was a contemporary revolution in MS, basedon the basic concepts of electrospray ionization, with the development of a new form of direct sample analysis through the desorption/ionization of an analyt on a solid surface, this technique is called by ambient ionization in mass spectrometry. The development of these modern analytical techniques in MS enabled the real-time analysis of the spatial distribution of the metabolic profile in a co-cultivation experiment, directly from the Petri dish, which is called Imaging Mass Spectrometry (IMS). The IMS technique has been efficiently employed to portray the spatial organization of secondary metabolites and the role they play in the interaction between different microorganisms. Thus, this research internship project abroad aims to apply modern techniques in mass spectrometry for mapping the secondary metabolites produced by actinobacteria involved in co-cultures. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MEDEIROS, TALITA C. T.; DABIJA, LAURENTIU G.; PARASECOLO, LEONARDO; MELO, ITAMAR S.; MORAES, LUIZ ALBERTO B.; IFA, DEMIAN R.. Differentiation of the metabolic profile of actinobacteria isolated from the soil of the caatinga biome by paper spray mass spectrometry. Journal of Mass Spectrometry, v. 58, n. 7, p. 7-pg., 2023-07-01. (21/12787-1, 18/03782-3)