Ion mobility mass spectrometry for the study of mycobacterial mycolic acids.

Lipids are highly structurally diverse molecules involved in a wide variety of biological processes. The involvement of lipids is even more pronounced in mycobacteria, including the human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which produces a highly complex and diverse set of lipids in the cell envelope. These lipids include mycolic acids, which are among the longest fatty acids in nature and can contain up to 90 carbon atoms.

Rapid HILIC-Z ion mobility mass spectrometry (RHIMMS) method for untargeted metabolomics of complex biological samples.

Introduction: Recent advances in high-throughput methodologies in the 'omics' and synthetic biology fields call for rapid and sensitive workflows in the metabolic phenotyping of complex biological samples.

Objective: The objective of this research was to evaluate a straightforward to implement LC-MS metabolomics method using a commercially available chromatography column that provides increased throughput. Reducing run time can potentially impact chromatography and therefore the effects of ion mobility spectrometry to expand peak capacity were also evaluated.

Food Fingerprinting: Using a Two-Tiered approach to Monitor and Mitigate Food Fraud in Rice.

Background: Rice is an important staple food that is consumed around the world. Like many foods, the price of rice varies considerably, from very inexpensive for a low-quality product to premium pricing for highly prized varieties from specific locations. Therefore, like other foods it is vulnerable to economically motivated adulteration through substitution or misrepresentation of inferior-quality rice for more expensive varieties.