Abstract (eng)
Lipidomics, which aims to study pathways and networks of cellular lipids in biological systems, is a
continuously growing research field. Several analytical challenges accumulate especially in quantitative
analysis by mass spectrometry (MS). Only suitable standardization can overcome its limitations and
isotopically labeled internal standards (ISTD) are without question the “Gold Standard” for accurate and
reproducible quantification.
Within the first part of this thesis, the implementation of a quantification method based on lipidome
isotope labeling of yeast (LILY), an in vivo 13C labeled Pichia pastoris yeast lipidome, as ISTD showed the
potential of this cost-saving ISTD alternative. A novel fully automated workflow for lipidomics based on
flow injection (FI), followed by reversed-phase- liquid chromatography-high resolution MS (RP-LC–HRMS)
achieved absolute quantification of the sample lipidome by using a large set of species-specific and/or
retention time-matched, class-specific calibrants. Due to the independence of the quantitative values
from common deuterated or non-endogenous ISTDs, the novel workflow offered cross-validation of
different organic MS-based lipid methods.
The second part cross-validated lipid class concentrations via multiple quantification platforms including
common lipidomics workflows but also alternative approaches such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
and inductively coupled plasma (ICP). Quantitative values for seven different polar lipid classes enabled
traceable absolute lipid class concentrations, which are rare in a field without certified reference
materials.
The final part further tried to optimize the use of yeast-based ISTD by fractionating the lipidome in its lipid
classes via semi-preparative supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC). This powerful tool offered
separation of a wide polarity range covering neutral and polar lipids in one 26 min run. The workflow
doubled the identified lipids in Pichia pastoris to 400, due to the enriched and purified fractions and
enabled concentration and composition adoptions of LILY to the sample of interest.