关键词: 成像质谱, 代谢产物, 代谢交换

Abstract: Microbial metabolites with structural and functional diversity have an important impact on the neighboring micro-organisms and the environment. The traditional method of natural products isolation cannot monitor, in a systematic and informative fashion, the metabolic release patterns by microbes grown in a pure or mixed culture. MALDI-imaging mass spectrometry can visualize both spatial and temporal production of multiple metabolites from a single microbial colony to complex microbial communities. It can be adapted to discover novel biologically active molecules, observe metabolic exchange of microbial colonies, and track metabolite modifications during interspecies competition. This paper reviews on recent progress of microbial metabolites research by imaging spectrometry, prospects the future application of this technology.

Key words: MALDI-imaging mass spectrometry, metabolites, metabolic exchange