Microbolome
Comprehensive microbial metabolite analysis
Microbolome is a service offered by Afekta to comprehensively study microbial metabolites in biological samples. It is based on semi-targeted analysis of LC-MS data and our vast expertise on microbial metabolism.
Microbes are involved in a vast array of metabolic processes occurring both in humans as well as in foods and in the environment. The importance of microbial metabolites as predictors of health and disease and their role in food development is increasingly acknowledged by scientific research. For example, the gut–brain axis is involved in many important aspects of our well-being, such as mental health and appetite, and these effects are mediated by microbial metabolites.
You can read more about how we ended up developing Microbolome in our blog.
What can we detect and identify?
Microbolome can analyse more than 60 microbial or microbiota-associated metabolites from any kind of biological sample in one analysis. Our reference database contains several key microbial metabolites, including TMAO, indolepropionic acid, hippuric acid, mammalian lignans, vitamin K, and secondary bile acids.
We are constantly expanding our reference database. The number of detectable metabolites in our method is much larger than what the list contains, and we can also target a limited list of customer-specified metabolites in case they are missing from our reference database. Please note that we have a separate method for measuring short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), such as acetic, propionic and butyric acid. Let us know if you wish to include the SCFAs in the analysis.
How does it work?
- Contact us for a quote
- Send in your samples with metadata, such as group information
- We will analyse your samples with high-resolution LC-MS using our approach
- We will provide you an informative report of the identified microbial metabolites and their levels in each sample