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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Optimising methods for the recovery and quantification of di- and tripeptides in soil

Sandra Jämtgård A B E , Nicole Robinson B , Thomas Moritz C , Michelle L. Colgrave D and Susanne Schmidt B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-901 83 Umeå, Sweden.

B School of Agriculture and Food Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.

C Umeå Plant Science Centre, Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-901 83 Umeå, Sweden.

D Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Agriculture and Food, 306 Carmody Road, St Lucia, Queensland, 4067, Australia.

E Corresponding author. Email: sandra.jamtgard@slu.se

Soil Research 56(4) 404-412 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR17279
Submitted: 12 October 2017  Accepted: 18 January 2018   Published: 10 April 2018

Abstract

Di- and tripeptides are intermediaries in the nitrogen cycle and are likely to have roles in the soil–microbe–plant continuum, but they have hitherto been difficult to measure in soils. To lay the base for future studies of oligopeptides in soil, we added 10 known di- and tripeptides with diverse chemical properties to forest and agricultural soils and then recovered the peptides by means of induced diffusive fluxes using microdialysis, a minimally-intrusive soil sampling technique. The concentration of the peptides recovered with the probes was 25–39% (relative recovery) of the concentration in the external solution, and followed the same trend as previously observed for amino acids, with smaller peptides (e.g. Gly-Gly) recovered at a higher rate than larger ones (e.g. Tyr-Phe). After derivatisation with AccQ-Tag, a standard method for amino acids, peptides were analysed by ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. Multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry was used to quantify specific peptides with a short run time of 15 min and a detection limit of 0.01–0.02 pmol injected (0.005–0.01 pmol µL–1) for the different peptides. This methodology allowed successful analysis of all standard di- and tripeptides tested here. We conclude that microdialysis in combination with UHPLC-MS will allow measurement of plant-relevant fluxes of di- and tripeptides in undisturbed soil.

Additional keywords: Dipeptide, LC-MS, microdialysis, organic N sources, soil, tripeptide.


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