Plant Metabolite Profiling

Plant Metabolite Profiling Service at a Glance

Comprehensive Plant Metabolite Profiling for Deep Biological Insight

Plant metabolite profiling provides a powerful analytical window into the biochemical status of plant cells, tissues, and whole organisms. By systematically identifying and quantifying small-molecule metabolites, this approach links genotype and phenotype, clarifies how plants respond to environmental stimuli, and supports the discovery of metabolic markers for crop improvement.

Our service integrates LC–MS/MS, GC–MS, and NMR-based technologies to capture a broad spectrum of primary and secondary metabolites. With standardized extraction protocols, high-throughput analytical pipelines, and expert bioinformatics interpretation, we deliver precise, reproducible, and biologically meaningful data for research, breeding, and biotechnology applications.

Whether your focus is stress physiology, metabolic engineering, medicinal plant chemistry, trait evaluation, or functional genomics, our plant metabolite profiling platform provides comprehensive support tailored to your scientific goals.

Targeted Metabolite Profiling

Targeted metabolite profiling focuses on predefined metabolites or metabolite classes, using authentic reference standards for absolute or relative quantification. This approach is ideal for hypothesis-driven studies, metabolic pathway validation, and biomarker quantification.

Common Targets

Plant hormones (auxins, ABA, cytokinins, SA, JA, ethylene precursors)
Flavonoids and flavonols
Organic acids and amino acids
Phenolic compounds
Sugars, sugar alcohols, and sugar derivatives
Specialized secondary metabolites unique to medicinal or crop species

Deliverables

Absolute concentration data calibrated against standards
Chromatographic profiles and QC data
Pathway mapping and interpretation
Comparative analysis across conditions or genotypes

Untargeted Metabolite Profiling

Untargeted profiling provides a global metabolic snapshot, detecting hundreds to thousands of metabolites without prior selection.

We utilize integrated GC–MS, LC–MS/MS, and multivariate statistical platforms to achieve comprehensive detection of volatile, semi-polar, and non-polar metabolites. High-resolution MS ensures confident compound annotation using extensive spectral libraries such as MassBank, HMDB, Fiehn Library, and in-house plant metabolite databases.

Applications

Discovery of unknown metabolites
Understanding physiological changes under stress
Functional genomics and mutant characterization
Comparative metabolic phenotyping
Natural product research

Deliverables

Metabolite feature tables (m/z, RT, abundance) Putative metabolite annotation PCA, PLS-DA, and clustering heatmaps Pathway enrichment and biological interpretation

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Specialized Metabolite Profiling Services

We provide targeted profiling of diverse plant metabolite classes, enabling precise quantification and comparative analysis across species, tissues, and developmental stages.

Metabolite Category	Representative Compounds	Typical Applications
Flavonoids	Flavonols, flavones, flavanones, isoflavones	Plant pigmentation studies, stress signaling, medicinal plant quality assessment
Phenolic Compounds	Phenolic acids, tannins, lignin-related phenolics	Defense response profiling, fruit quality evaluation, forage improvement
Alkaloids	Terpenoid indole alkaloids, benzylisoquinoline alkaloids	Medicinal plant bioactivity assessment, chemotaxonomy
Terpenoids	Monoterpenes, diterpenes, sesquiterpenes	Aroma profiling, plant defense studies, metabolic engineering
Anthocyanins	Cyanidin-, delphinidin-, and pelargonidin-based anthocyanins	Pigmentation profiling, abiotic stress evaluation, breeding programs
Lipophilic Metabolites	Fatty acids, glycerolipids, sterols	Lipid metabolism studies, seed quality analysis
Forage Quality Metabolites	Structural carbohydrates, digestibility-related metabolites	Forage nutritional evaluation, grazing optimization
Specialized Stress Metabolites	Glucosinolates, phytoalexins, saponins	Biotic and abiotic stress response research

Deliverables (All Services)

Complete metabolite identification and quantitation lists
Annotated chromatograms, MS spectra, and QC reports
Multivariate statistical analysis
Pathway analysis (KEGG, PlantCyc)
Heatmaps, score plots, and correlation networks
Detailed methodology documentation

Service Workflow

Sample Preparation and Metabolite Extraction

Plant tissues are homogenized under cold conditions to preserve metabolites, followed by extraction with optimized solvent systems appropriate to metabolite polarity. Internal standards are included to ensure quantification accuracy.

Derivatization (for GC–MS as needed)

Chemical derivatization converts non-volatile metabolites into volatile, thermostable forms suitable for GC–MS analysis, improving chromatographic performance and detection sensitivity.

Instrumental Analysis (LC–MS/MS, GC–MS, NMR)

LC–MS/MS for semi-polar and non-volatile metabolites (flavonoids, phenolics, hormones).
GC–MS for primary metabolites (sugars, organic acids, amino acids).
NMR for structural confirmation and quantification of abundant metabolites.

Data Processing and Compound Identification

Peak detection, alignment, normalization, and annotation are performed using advanced algorithms and refined spectral libraries.

Statistical Analysis and Biological Interpretation

Includes PCA, PLS-DA, differential metabolite analysis, clustering, pathway enrichment, and integration with transcriptomic or proteomic datasets.

Our standardized workflow ensures high sensitivity, reproducibility, and accurate metabolite identification.

Sample Requirements

Category	Requirements
Sample Type	Leaves, stems, roots, flowers, fruits, seeds, callus, or plant culture media
Sample Amount	50–200 mg fresh tissue or equivalent dry weight
Pre-Treatment	Remove soil or contaminants; avoid chemical preservatives
Storage Conditions	Flash-freeze immediately; store at –80 °C
Shipping	Ship on dry ice; avoid freeze–thaw cycles
Metadata Needed	Species, tissue type, treatment conditions, biological replicates

Why Choose Us

Comprehensive Metabolite Coverage

Detection of diverse compounds across polarities, including rare or species-specific metabolites.

High-Resolution Instrumentation

State-of-the-art LC–MS/MS, GC–MS, and NMR ensure precise quantification and confident metabolite identification.

Plant-Specific Expertise

Our team specializes in plant biochemistry, physiology, and omics integration, enabling biologically meaningful interpretation.

Standardized, Reproducible Workflows

Tight QC ensures consistency across replicates, experiments, and plant species.

Get Started Today

Ready to advance your plant metabolite profiling research?

Reach out to Lifeasible for expert guidance, a free consultation, and a customized project quote tailored to your analytical needs.

About Plant Metabolite Profiling – Background Information

Plant metabolite profiling is the systematic identification and quantification of all small-molecule metabolites (the metabolome) present within a plant or its specific tissue/organism at a given point in time and under specific environmental conditions. Unlike genomics or transcriptomics, which quantify sequences or transcriptional activity, metabolite profiling directly reflects physiological states, environmental interactions, and metabolic pathway activity.

This approach is especially useful for studying phenotypes, because metabolites are the final products of gene expression and enzymatic reactions.

While transcriptomics (RNA-Seq) reveals the potential for gene expression, Metabolite Profiling provides the crucial link to the actual phenotype and physiological reality. Integrating these "omics" levels offers a comprehensive view:

Bridging the Transcript-Phenotype Gap: Metabolite Profiling validates and contextualizes findings from transcriptomic and proteomic studies. For instance, a highly expressed gene might not always lead to high metabolite production due to post-transcriptional or enzymatic regulation; metabolite data shows the true functional output.
Direct Readout of Physiology: Metabolite changes are the most immediate indicators of a plant's biochemical response to internal (developmental) and external (stress, environment) cues, offering a direct snapshot of the current physiological state.
Deciphering Complex Traits: It is indispensable for understanding complex traits driven by secondary metabolites, such as flavor, aroma, nutrition, and crucial chemical defense mechanisms in crops.

Our Plant Metabolite Profiling services are designed to address critical questions in fundamental biology and agricultural biotechnology:

Stress and Adaptation: Identifying metabolic pathways altered in response to abiotic (drought, salinity, temperature) or biotic (pathogen, pest) stress.
Quality and Nutrition: Characterizing the metabolic basis of desirable traits in crops, such as increased yield, enhanced nutritional value (vitamins, antioxidants), and improved post-harvest quality.
Secondary Metabolite Discovery: Discovering novel natural products (alkaloids, terpenoids, polyphenols) with pharmaceutical, flavor, or defense-related activities.
Genetic Engineering Validation: Confirming the functional outcome of targeted gene modifications or CRISPR/Cas9 edits by measuring resulting metabolite levels.

Metabolite profiling depends heavily on high-resolution analytical instrumentation. The most widely used platforms include:

Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) for polar metabolites such as flavonoids, alkaloids, phenolic acids
Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC–MS) for volatile compounds, primary metabolites, and fatty acid derivatives
High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) for routine quantification of pigments, phenolics, and specialized plant compounds
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for structural elucidation and unbiased metabolite fingerprinting

Each platform provides distinct types of information, and often a combination of LC-MS and GC-MS provides the highest metabolite coverage.