Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry-Based Metabolomics to Understand Metabolic Perturbations in Drosophila Due to Lead Acetate Exposure

Lead acetate is recognized as one of the most toxic compounds, with the potential to adversely affect human health, the environment, and ecosystems. In this study, metabolic changes in Drosophila due to lead acetate exposure were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)-based metabolomics at sub-lethal concentrations (2.0 and 20 µg/mL). The study identified a total of 79 metabolites, of which eight were found to be significantly altered (hexadecenoic acid, propanoic acid, glucose, gluconic acid, alanine, melibiose, galactose, and isoleucine) in Drosophila due to lead acetate exposure. These were identified after multivariate analysis of the GC-MS metabolomics data with variable importance in projection scores greater than one. The significantly altered metabolic pathway in Drosophila was identified as aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis with an impact value of 0.069.