Novel high resolving microanalytical approaches to access phenotypical heterogeneity on a molecular level

We will cooperate with several workgroups within consortium in order to make in depth experimental analysis and modelisation to understand the formation and decay of known bacterial signalling molecules in the different projects and to discover new compounds responsible in quorum sensing/quenching issues important in the understanding of phenotypic heterogeneity. The established LC/MS technology for the analysis of signalling molecules will fully be used to answer the questions we rise together with the biologist. In addition we will use the metabolomics approach in some selected experimental setups with our partners. The samples will be profiled in order to achieve a systems map of the basal metabolic profile in time in the various conditions. These studies will use a combination of ‘state of the art’ analytical tools, including high field cryoNMR spectroscopy, ultrahigh resolution ICR-FT/MS and ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC)-MS together with sophisticated mathematical and computational modeling strategies enabling a metabolic map reconstruction. These methods will be used to generate non-selective profiles of the biological samples generated, thereby providing the widest coverage of the metabolome and to optimize the characterization of the metabolic phenotypes.