Location: Responsive Agricultural Food Systems Research Unit
Project Number: 3093-10700-001-019-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Aug 25, 2026
End Date: Aug 24, 2028
Objective:
This project will examine new methods to improve annotation of unknown metabolites in food crops that current libraries fail to identify. These pipelines can improve the annotation of unknown compounds in economically important and commonly consumed foods.
Approach:
The project will employ novel methods for annotation of mass spectrometry data. The approach will focus on utilizing untargeted MS2 data from pecans, tomatoes, rice, and other common foods. The project will utilize deep annotation of metabolites using multiple annotation pipelines that integrate metabolite fingerprints. Novel data analytic pipelines are critically needed to automate the structural annotation of these complex compounds, moving beyond simple formula matching to predictive fragmentation modeling. This project will develop methods for characterization of these unknown signals, to accurately map the nutritional landscape of crops (viz. rice, pecans) to better understand their impact on human health.