Lipidomics: A Promising area in “OMICS” Research

Abstract

Lipidomics mass spectrometry Mass spectrometry has emerged as a powerful tool for the analysis of all lipids.For a long time, MS was restricted to analysing small and volatile lipids. In the late 1980s, two 'softa' ionization techniques were developed for generating ions of intact biomolecules electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI).These two techniques allow high mass and nonvolatile compounds such as intact lipids to be amenable to mass spectrometric analyses. ESI produces gas-phase ions from molecules in a solution, and is easily directly coupled to liquid chromatography. This technique is currently the most frequently used in lipidomic research. Ion trap mass spectrometers, however, have several disadvantages for lipidomics research. The triple quadrupole mass spectrometer has been the work-horse for studying small molecules mainly because of its high performance for quantitation, its ability to perform precursor ion scans and neutral loss scans and its exquisite sensitivity for identifying specific small molecules. Its characteristics are well suited for lipid analysis. MALDI-TOF MS has become a very promising approach for lipidomics studies, particularly for the imaging of lipids from tissue slides. Imaging mass spectrometry of lipids in tissues has opened new insights into the distribution of lipid molecular species with promising application to study pathophysiological events and diseases [9].The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is an enzymatic reaction which follows simple, predictable and well understood principles. Selective amplification of nucleic acid molecules, that are initially present in minute quantities, provides a powerful tool for analyzing nucleic acids [10]. Several Omics methods have been applied to identify virulence genes, i.e., DNA microarrays, In Vivo Expression Technology (IVET), Signature-Tagged Mutagenesis (STM), Differential Fluorescence Induction (DFI) etc [11,12].Comparative analysis of lipid profiles, which stem from two physiologically linked conditions is particularly powerful for applications in drug and biomarker development. First, it leads to the identification of pathways related to lipid metabolism. Second, multiparameter lipid biomarkers will provide better diagnostics in preclinical trials using model organisms and in clinical presentations in humans [13,14].The relative rates of development of the high throughput computational methods for the detection of SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) and small indels (insertion/deletion) has gained wide applications in the field of the molecular markers [15]. It has been recently established a highly sensitive MS for both glycans and glycopeptides by pyrene derivatization [16]. Efforts have been made to prioritize positional candidate genes for complex diseases utilize the protein-protein interaction (PPI) information. But such an approach is often considered too general to be practically useful for specific diseases [17,18]. Mass spectrometry based lipid analysis