Spatiotemporal effects of a bioautocatalytic chemical wave revealed by time-resolved mass spectrometry

Abstract

Mass spectrometry has been implemented as an on-line detection tool to monitor transmission of chemical signals due to natural processes such as diffusion and convection as well as a bienzymatic autocatalytic process. It was found that the enzyme-accelerated chemical wave propagates faster than the chemical wave propelled by other processes. The two enzymes (pyruvate kinase and adenylate kinase), involved in the process, work co-operatively catalysing production of adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and induce formation of a front propagating along a high-aspect-ratio drift cell towards the ion source of an ion trap mass spectrometer. Isotopically labelled C-13-ATP was used as the trigger of the accelerated chemical wave. Using this substrate, one could easily distinguish between the two chemical waves (passive and accelerated) in a single experiment, reducing the bias due to the inherent experimental instabilities. We think that - following further improvements - the process described in this report may find applications in bioengineered systems, in which chemical signals need to be transmitted over macroscopic distances.