METABOLOMICS USING INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY FOR NEW GENE DISCOVERY METABOLOMICS USING INFRARED SPECTROSCOPYFOR NEW GENE DISCOVERY Metabolomics using Infrared Spectroscopy for New Gene Discovery

Abstract

Infrared Spectroscopy provides rich metabolic fingerprints that can be processed with pattern recognition methods to determine similarities or differences. Additionally it is fast and easy to collect spectra with minimal sample preparation. In this study, IR spectroscopy was used to find new brassinosteroid-related genes in Arabidopsis thaliana. For this purpose, IR spectra of several hundreds of leaves of Arabidopsis and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was performed to cluster different groups such as mutants, wild type, and activation tagging line. By this method, novel genes whose functions are not associated with brassinosteroid were discovered. The overall results suggest that IR spectroscopy can be used as a powerful tool for rapid metabolic fingerprinting of Arabidopsis by providing rich chemical and structure information. Additionally, high throughput IR measurement scheme that could be automated will be presented.