LC-MS system for automatically collecting time-resolved metabolomics data of cultured cells

Temporal metabolic dynamics are a critical, but difficult to study aspect of metabolism. To address this, we developed a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) system, temporal uptake and nutritional analysis (TUNA), to automatically collect time-resolved metabolomics data of cultured cells. TUNA enables sub-minute sequential sampling, has broad metabolite coverage, supports robust metabolite identification, can monitor over 72 conditions in parallel, and can be implemented in most LC-MS laboratories. We used TUNA to monitor temporal dynamics of uropathogens (Escherichia coli and Proteus mirabilis) and identify novel metabolic phenotypes that cannot be captured from a single time point.