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REVIEW article

Front. Nat. Prod.
Sec. Structural and Stereochemical Analysis
Volume 3 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fntpr.2024.1414506
This article is part of the Research Topic NMR insights into Natural Product Chemistry View all 5 articles

NMR-based plant metabolomics protocols: a step-by-step guide

Provisionally accepted
Fernanda M. Ocampos Fernanda M. Ocampos 1,2*Ana Júlia Borim De Souza Ana Júlia Borim De Souza 3Gabriel Henrique Ribeiro Gabriel Henrique Ribeiro 4Luísa S. Almeida Luísa S. Almeida 5Nara Regina B. Cônsolo Nara Regina B. Cônsolo 1Luiz Colnago Luiz Colnago 2
  • 1 School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of São Paulo, Pirassununga, Brazil
  • 2 Embrapa Instrumentacao, Sao Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil
  • 3 Sylvio Moreira Citriculture Center, Cordeirópolis, Brazil
  • 4 Department of Chemistry Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), São Carlos, Brazil
  • 5 Institute of Chemistry of São Carlos, University of São Paulo, São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Metabolomics is one of the ‘omics’ sciences that can reveal the metabolic phenotype of organisms. This capability makes it a valuable tool for plant investigation, as plants present a vast chemical diversity. From the analytical point of view, two main techniques are frequently used in metabolomics and are often complementary: Mass spectrometry (MS) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Here, we describe NMR and its applications in plant metabolomics. We start by contextualizing the research field to then explore study design, sample collection, sample preparation, NMR data acquisition, and data analysis, showing the key features for achieving quality and relevant results. Within these topics, the most common databases used for plant metabolites identification and assignments are listed, as these help to shorten the laborious task of metabolomics investigation of natural products. Concerning NMR parameters, we discuss the key pulse sequences, recommend acquisition parameters, and examine the data each sequence can provide. Similarly, we delve into data analysis, highlighting the most commonly used chemometric methods and how to achieve high-quality results. Therefore, this review aims to provide a comprehensive guide for NMR-based metabolomics analysis of plants.

    Keywords: NMR, Plants, Metabolomics, workflow, pulse sequences

    Received: 09 Apr 2024; Accepted: 10 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ocampos, De Souza, Ribeiro, Almeida, Cônsolo and Colnago. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Fernanda M. Ocampos, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of São Paulo, Pirassununga, Brazil

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.