Metabolomics of Ulva lactuca Linnaeus (Chlorophyta) exposed to oil fuels: Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and multivariate analysis as tools for metabolic fingerprint

Fossil fuels, e.g. gasoline and diesel oil, account for substantial share of the pollution that affects marine ecosystems. Environmental metabolomics is an emerging field that may help unravel the effect of these xenobiotics on seaweeds and provide methodologies for biomonitoring coastal ecosystems. In the present study, FTIR and multivariate analysis were used to discriminate metabolic profiles of Ulva lactuca after in vitro exposure to diesel oil and gasoline, in combinations of concentrations (0.001%, 0.01%, 0.1%, and 1.0% - v/v) and times of exposure (30 min, 1 h, 12 h, and 24 h). PCA and HCA performed on entire mid-infrared spectral window were able to discriminate diesel oil-exposed thalli from the gasoline-exposed ones. HCA performed on spectral window related to the protein absorbance (17001500 cm 1) enabled the best discrimination between gasoline-exposed samples regarding the time of exposure, and between diesel oil-exposed samples according to the concentration. The results indicate that the combination of FTIR with multivariate analysis is a simple and efficient methodology for metabolic profiling with potential use for biomonitoring strategies.To Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) for financial support. The research fellowships granted to Marcelo Maraschin (Proc. 307099/2015-6) and Fernanda Ramlov (Proc. 473408/2013-9) by National Council of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq) are also acknowledged. This work was partially funded by CNPq and FCT agreement through the PropMine (Proc. 490383/2013-0) and PVE (Proc. 407323/2013-9, Dr. Miguel Rocha) grants

Mass-Spectrometric Investigations of Silver Clusters

We report results of experimental studies on the silver clusters formation in laser desorption and matrix assisted laser desorption. Time-of-flight mass spectrometer was used to control process itself. Firstly, we investigated dependence of silver salts of variety chemical nature on formation of silver clusters. The most prominent was usage of organic silver salts (silver trifluoroacetate and silver benzoate). The biggest species obtained was $Ag_{45}^{+}$ (silver benzoate). Secondly, we examined influence of organic matrix (2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid) on formation efficiency of silver clusters in matrix assisted laser desorption. In all cases we observed increase of silver clusters size

Multimodal Spectroscopic Imaging of Pea Root Nodules to Assess the Nitrogen Fixation in the Presence of Biofertilizer Based on Nod-Factors

Multimodal spectroscopic imaging methods such as Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Mass Spectrometry Imaging (MALDI MSI), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Raman spectroscopy were used to monitor the changes in distribution and to determine semi quantitatively selected metabolites involved in nitrogen fixation in pea root nodules. These approaches were used to evaluate the effectiveness of nitrogen fixation by pea plants treated with biofertilizer preparations containing Nod factors. To assess the effectiveness of biofertilizer, the fresh and dry masses of plants were determined. The biofertilizer was shown to be effective in enhancing the growth of the pea plants. In case of metabolic changes, the biofertilizer caused a change in the apparent distribution of the leghaemoglobin from the edges of the nodule to its centre (the active zone of nodule). Moreover, the enhanced nitrogen fixation and presumably the accelerated maturation form of the nodules were observed with the use of a biofertilizer