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Analysis of phytochelatin–cadmium complexes from plant tissue culture using nano‐electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry and capillary liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry
Author(s) -
Yen TenYang,
Villa Joseph A.,
DeWitt Jane G.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.475
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9888
pISSN - 1076-5174
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-9888(199909)34:9<930::aid-jms853>3.0.co;2-e
Subject(s) - chemistry , tandem mass spectrometry , electrospray ionization , chromatography , mass spectrometry , electrospray , capillary electrophoresis–mass spectrometry , protein mass spectrometry , extractive electrospray ionization , liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry
Phytochelatins (PCs, also known as class III metallothioneins), a family of sulfhydryl‐rich peptides with the formula (γ‐GluCys) n Gly(Pc n , n = 2–11), are induced in plants, yeast and fungi exposed to heavy metals, and are thought to detoxify metals by forming PC– metal complexes. Although PCs have been detected, PC– metal complexes have not been well characterized. In this work, nano‐electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (nano‐ESI‐MS/MS) and capillary liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (capillary LC/ESI‐MS/MS) methods were used to analyze PC – Cd complexes isolated from Datura innoxia , also known as Jimsonweed, cell culture exposed to Cd. With nano‐ESI‐MS/MS and capillary LC/ESI‐MS/MS we could simultaneously detect the presence of PCs and PC – Cd complexes from plant cell extracts, unambiguously identify these species and elucidate the nature of individual PC – Cd complexes. Phytochelatins with n = 3–6 were detected, as were PC – Cd complexes with PC 3 , PC 4 and PC 5 . This is the first study to report the size and nature of native PC – Cd complexes from plant tissue samples. These results demonstrate that the direct analysis of plant extracts using nano‐ESI‐MS/MS and capillary LC/ESI‐MS/MS methods is simple and sensitive to the range of PCs and PC – Cd complexes in plants. Hence these methods open up new opportunities for further quantitative analysis of PCs and PC – metal complexes in cell culture and plant systems to understand the relationship between the biosynthesis of these compounds and metal tolerance. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.