德国莱茵范伦威弗尔·波恩大学Philipp Leyendecker小组报道了一项新型技术，可用于脂质代谢的复杂性追踪和单细胞追踪。相关论文2019年10月14日在线发表在《自然—方法学》上。

使用点击化学质谱仪报告分子策略，研究人员为炔烃标记的脂质开发了一种特定的、高度敏感且稳定的示踪方法。该方法使得能够进行样品多路复用，从而改善了样品比较。研究人员通过对肝细胞甘油脂代谢的时间分辨分析，以及对120个标记脂质种类的平行定量监测来证明了这一点。其超高的灵敏度能够对脂肪酸掺入中性和膜脂中进行单细胞分析。这些结果证明了脂质稳态在单细胞水平上的稳健性。

据悉，细胞脂质代谢是一个复杂的网络过程，包括数十种酶、多个细胞器和一千多种脂质。在这个网络中追踪代谢反应是一项重大的技术和科学挑战。

附：英文原文

Title: Multiplexed and single cell tracing of lipid metabolism

Author: Christoph Thiele, Klaus Wunderling, Philipp Leyendecker

Issue&Volume: 2019-10-14

Abstract: 

Cellular lipid metabolism is a complex network process comprising dozens of enzymes, multiple organelles and more than a thousand lipid species. Tracing metabolic reactions in this network is a major technological and scientific challenge. Using a click-chemistry mass spectrometry reporter strategy, we have developed a specific, highly sensitive and robust tracing procedure for alkyne-labeled lipids. The method enables sample multiplexing, which improves sample comparison. We demonstrate this by a time-resolved analysis of hepatocyte glycerolipid metabolism with parallel quantitative monitoring of 120 labeled lipid species. The subfemtomole sensitivity enabled a single cell analysis of fatty acid incorporation into neutral and membrane lipids. The results demonstrate the robustness of lipid homeostasis at the single cell level.

DOI: 10.1038/s41592-019-0593-6

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-019-0593-6