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Market Trends & Analysis: Ion Chromatography

A novel orally active insecticidal peptide (OAIP-1) has been isolated from the venom of one of Australia’s largest spiders, the Australian tarantula (

) using reversed-phase liquid chromatography (reversed-phase LC) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS). The study was recently published in the journal 

Insect pests are an affliction on the agricultural industry, reducing world crops by 10–14% annually. Margaret Hardy of the University of Queensland, Australia, told 

 that there is a need to develop new environmentally friendly insecticides, driven by the increasing levels of insecticide resistance. Recently developed insecticides are highly selective and specific, often targeting a small number of molecular targets. Evolution of these targets over time eventually renders the insecticide ineffective. Hardy added that “green” insecticides need to be included in integrated pest management (IPM) programmes to limit their environmental impact.

The tarantula injects venom into its prey using a needle-like fang, and so it has been assumed that it is not a source of orally‑active peptides, which are effective when ingested by insects. The group has previous experience with spider venom peptides with insecticidal activity, but this was the first time they had performed this method. “The manuscript describes the first instance of a directed-discovery programme that successfully isolated a novel, orally-active insecticide,” said Hardy.

Venom was collected from Australian tarantulas and subsequently lypophilized. Reversed-phase LC coupled with MS was performed to isolate and analyse toxins within the venom. Around 50 peaks resulted, with one elution faction displaying oral insecticidal action against tested specimens (including mealworms and termites). A 34-residue orally active insecticidal peptide (OAIP‑1) was identified. The structure of the peptide, was determined by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and indicated high thermal and chemical stability. According to the paper, this suggests the potential to produce the peptide via a synthetic pathway.

“Our results are significant because it describes the discovery of the most potent insecticidal peptide published to date; the insecticide shows synergism with another, currently used conventional insecticide; and, because the peptide could be used as part of an IPM programme,“ said Hardy.Hardy added that the group has already filed patents on the technology used and that future work will focus on determining the safety of the peptide for non-targeted species. - B.D.

News

A novel orally active insecticidal peptide (OAIP-1) has been isolated from the venom of one of Australia's largest spiders, the Australian tarantula (Selenotypus plumipes) using reversed-phase liquid chromatography (reversed-phase LC) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS). The study was recently published in the journal PLOS ONE.1

Reversed-Phase LC Isolates Potent Insecticidal Protein From Tarantula

Is “green foodomics” another buzzword or a new direction in food analysis? 	Kate Mosford of 

 spoke to Professor Elena Ibañez of the Institute of Food Science Research (CIAL), Madrid, Spain, to find out more.

Is "green foodomics" another buzzword or a new direction in food analysis?

Green Foodomics

The latest on-line highlights, company, and research news in brief as selected by the 

The latest on-line highlights, company, and research news in brief as selected by the LCGC editorial team.

On-line Highlights

This article presents applications of ELSD in GPC/SEC. It discusses both the advantages and disadvantages as well as the practical considerations for use in GPC/SEC.

Feature

Tips & Tricks: Evaporative Light Scattering Detection in GPC/SEC

In this technical tip from CHROMacademy we re-visit some of the lesser known or remembered facts relating to silica particles used in chromatography.

Silica-Based HPLC Columns — Pore Sizes and Particle Diameters

An excerpt from LC•GC’s e-learning tutorial on translating GC methods at CHROMacademy.com

An excerpt from LCGC's e-learning tutorial on translating GC methods at CHROMacademy.com

Successfully Translating GC Methods from Helium to Hydrogen Carrier Gas

 The Urine Metabolome Database (UMDB) (www.urinemetabolome.ca) containing detailed information on over 3000 metabolites has been launched following the comprehensive quantitative metabolome characterization of urine by scientists at the University of Alberta, Canada.

 The project is part of the on-going Human Metabolome Project launched in 2005 by Genome Canada and Genome Alberta, and has so far received $600 million in funding from the Canadian government.

 was set up to build a freely available database of all small molecule metabolites found in human biofluids. David Wishart of the University of Alberta has been working on the project for over seven years, previously studying the metabolome of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood. Wishart and his team of 20 researchers set out to demonstrate that it was possible to measure hundreds of compounds in urine, while making the data available to the global research community in the form of a searchable on-database. Wishart told 

: “Our goal with fully characterizing the human urine metabolome was to establish a baseline of what would normally be found (and at what concentrations) in a healthy adult urine specimen.”

	Urine has long been favoured as a sample material by metabolomics researchers: Easy to obtain in large volumes, sterile, proteinâfree, but yet chemically complex it provides an ideal “fingerprint” of the body’s metabolic processes. Wishart told 

 that urine diagnosis is not a new concept, rather it has been used for more than 3000 years - in the Middle Ages, most physicians relied on the colour, smell, and in some cases taste of patient urine to make a diagnosis. It is still used today in pregancy tests and kidney function tests, and more recently metabolomic fingerprinting of urine has been suggested in the detection of cancers.

	The study relied heavily on a combination of method development and analysis with computer software design. Wishart stated that data mining software was written to scan thousands of papers, journals, and books to find urinary compounds found or reported by other scientists over the past 100 years. Mass spectrometry (MS), chromatography, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy approaches were also used to analyse urine samples.

	Urine was collected from 22 healthy volunteers and analysed using six analytical platforms. Wishart emphasises that there was a great deal of method development involved to allow the identification of hundreds of compounds within the samples. Highâresolution NMR spectroscopy identified 209 compounds (108 unique); gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) identified 179 (89 unique); direct flow injection tandem mass spectrometry (DFI–LC–MS–MS) identified 127 (98 unique); inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP–MS) identified 40 (40 unique); high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with ultraviolet (UV) identified 6 (6 unique); and HPLC with fluorescence detection (FD) identified 4 (3 unique).

	The data collected from the chemical analyses were combined with the literature data mined to build a compendium of all known and measured urine metabolites in human urine. This is housed within the publicly accessible UMDB.

 about the importance of the Human Metabolome Project, Wishat said: “At some level, we liken the work we’ve been doing as similar to what was done for the Human Genome Project.” He expanded: “Geneticists needed the ‘baseline’ DNA sequence for the average human genome. Once that was determined, they could then start discovering all the genetic mutations that caused human disease. As a result, hundreds of disease genes have been discovered and hundreds of new diagnostic or predictive genetic tests have emerged. We think the same thing could happen with urine, especially now that its chemical composition is known.” Whether or not the Human Metabolome Project has the same impact as the Human Genome Project remains to be seen; however, this is yet another step towards the advance of personalized medicine aided by analytical chemistry. - B.D.

	1. S. Bouatra, F. Aziat, R. Mandal, A.C. Guo, M.R. Wilson, et al. 

	3. Pilot Study Demonstrates Detection of Bladder Cancer with Prototype “Scent Device”, 

http://www.chromatographyonline.com/column-09-19-2013

The Urine Metabolome Database (UMDB) (www.urinemetabolome.ca) containing detailed information on over 3000 metabolites has been launched following the comprehensive quantitative metabolome characterization of urine by scientists at the University of Alberta, Canada.1 The project is part of the on-going Human Metabolome Project launched in 2005 by Genome Canada and Genome Alberta, and has so far received $600 million in funding from the Canadian government.

The Column-10-03-2013