GC-MS/MS survey of collision-induced dissociation of tert-butyldimethylsilyl-derivatized amino acids and its application to (13)C-metabolic flux analysis of Escherichia coli central metabolism.

Stable isotope labeling experiments using mass spectrometry have been employed to investigate carbon flow levels (metabolic flux) in mammalian, plant, and microbial cells. To achieve a more precise (13)C-metabolic flux analysis ((13)C-MFA), novel fragmentations of tert-butyldimethylsilyl (TBDMS)-amino acids were investigated by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). The product ion scan analyses of 15 TBDMS-amino acids revealed 24 novel fragment ions. The amino acid-derived carbons included in the five fragment ions were identified by the analyses of (13)C-labeled authentic standards. The identification of the fragment ion at m/z 170 indicated that the isotopic abundance of S-methyl carbon in methionine could be determined from the cleavage of C5 in the precursor of [M-159](+) (m/z 218). It was also confirmed that the precision of (13)C-MFA in Escherichia coli central carbon metabolism could be improved by introducing (13)C-labeling data derived from novel fragmentations. Graphical Abstract Novel collision-induced dissociation fragmentations of tert-butyldimethylsilyl amino acids were investigated and identified by GC-MS/MS.