title: Tracing the nitrogen metabolites of glycine using (15)N-glycine and mass spectrometry.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Glycine is the smallest amino acid used in protein synthesis, but it is also a very important precursor for the biosynthesis of other nitrogen-containing metabolites, such as purine nucleosides and nucleotides for synthesis of RNA, DNA etc. Abnormalities in glycine metabolism therefore cause diseases such as cancer. A quick and unambiguous method to trace the metabolites arising from glycine is required for targeting defect points within metabolic networks.
  
  
  METHODS
  This paper describes a method for using (15)N-glycine to culture A549 cancer cells for use with high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) and tandem mass spectrometry (HRMS(2)) that can detect the (M+1)/M pair peaks appearing in the cell metabolites. The 1 Da difference in the pair peaks can be used to point out and identify the nitrogen metabolites of glycine.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirteen nitrogen-containing metabolites derived from glycine were confirmed. Among them were metabolites containing purine, such as adenine, adenosine, AMP, ADP, ATP, S-adenosylmethionine and γ-glutathione; these were the most sensitive to the (15)N-glycine-enrichment technique. Therefore, they are promising biomarkers for monitoring the glycine metabolism network.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The method developed here could be applied to investigations of metabolism of other amino acids, and for drug discovery studies targeting the enzymes related to amino acid metabolism.
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory for Chemical Biology of Fujian Province, Department of Chemical Biology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lin-na
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory for Chemical Biology of Fujian Province, Department of Chemical Biology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ting-ting
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory for Chemical Biology of Fujian Province, Department of Chemical Biology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xun-fu
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory for Chemical Biology of Fujian Province, Department of Chemical Biology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Chuan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Key Laboratory for Chemical Biology of Fujian Province, Xiamen University, South Xiang-An Road, Xiamen, 361102, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Mei-juan
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory for Chemical Biology of Fujian Province, Department of Chemical Biology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory for Chemical Biology of Fujian Province, Department of Chemical Biology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Peng-xiang
authors.initials: PX
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory for Chemical Biology of Fujian Province, Department of Chemical Biology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, P.R. China.|The Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry and Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yu-fen
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D002460:Cell Line; D005998:Glycine / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007477:Ions / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D055432:Metabolomics; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D007477:Ions; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes; D005998:Glycine