Metabolite Profiling of the Monolignol Biosynthesis Pathway using Liquid Chromatography coupled with Tandem Mass Spectrometry

摘要

Monolignols constitute the fundamental units of lignin, which impart structural strength, vascular solidarity and pathogen resistance to plants. Thus, monolignols largely determine the composition and quality of lignin. It has been observed that altering lignin synthesis improves conversion efficiency of biomass into energy, food or other industrial materials. As a result, a lot of recent research efforts have been invested in understanding the underlying mechanism of monolignol biosynthesis, making the quantification of the intermediates of the pathway invaluable. We have developed a novel comprehensive method based on liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for the determination of the intermediates of the monolignol biosynthetic pathway.