Divergent Metabolic Fates of Aromatic Amino Acid-Derived Isomers: Insights from Ex Vivo Metabolomics and HDX-HRMS/MS-Based Resolution of Tautomers

Anal Chem. 2024 Oct 22;96(42):16917-16925. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.4c03862. Epub 2024 Oct 7.

Abstract

Tautomers are one of the many types of isomers, and differences in tautomeric structures confer altered chemical and biological properties. Using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS) ex vivo metabolomics, we investigate, in whole blood, the divergent metabolism of enol and keto forms of indole-3-pyruvate (IPyA), a tautomeric product of aromatic amino acid metabolism. Two new compounds resulting from IPyA metabolism were discovered, 3-(1H-indol-3-yl)-2,3-dioxopropanoic acid or "indole-3-oxopyruvic acid" and glutathionyl-indole pyruvate (GSHIPyA), which were characterized via ultraviolet photodissociation (UVPD) and higher-energy collisional dissociation (HCD). Computational calculations support the hypothesis that GSHIPyA forms specifically through the enol form of IPyA. GSHIPyA is also hypothesized to be tautomeric, and a hydrogen-deuterium exchange-high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (HDX-HRMS/MS) approach is developed to prove the presence of an enol and keto tautomer. HDX of GSHIPyA labels the keto form with an additional deuterium, relative to the enol form. HRMS/MS of the labeled isomers is employed to leverage the relationship of resolving power scaling inversely with the square root of m/z, for Orbitrap mass analyzers. HRMS/MS yields a smaller-molecular-weight deuterated tautomeric product ion, reducing the analyte ion m/z and thus lowering the resolving power necessary to separate the deuterated keto tautomer product ion from the [13]C product ion.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acids, Aromatic* / analysis
  • Amino Acids, Aromatic* / chemistry
  • Amino Acids, Aromatic* / metabolism
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
  • Humans
  • Hydrogen Deuterium Exchange-Mass Spectrometry
  • Indoles / chemistry
  • Indoles / metabolism
  • Isomerism
  • Metabolomics* / methods
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry / methods

Substances

  • Amino Acids, Aromatic
  • Indoles