Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) techniques for metabolic flux analysis of the Bifido shunt pathway

Abstract

The presence of the Bifido shunt in Bifidobacterium is predicted to lead to the uptake and metabolic conversion of fructose to acetate and lactate. We propose an approach to quantifying the carbon flux through the Bifido shunt by measuring specific ¹³C-labeled carbohydrate-derived isotopomers by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The techniques described may provide an alternative approach for determining the in vitro prebiotic potential of dietary oligosaccharides.

• Bifidobacterium
• Bifido shunt
• flux
• mass spectrometry
• metabolism