Microbial Community Metabolism of Coral Reef Exometabolomes Broadens the Chemodiversity of Labile Dissolved Organic Matter.
Zachary A Quinlan, Craig E Nelson, Irina Koester, Daniel Petras, Louis-Felix Nothias, Jacqueline Comstock, Brandie M White, Lihini I Aluwihare, Barbara A Bailey, Craig A Carlson, Pieter C Dorrestein, Andreas F Haas, Linda Wegley Kelly
Author Information
Zachary A Quinlan: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA. ORCID
Craig E Nelson: Daniel K. Inouye Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education, Department of Oceanography and Sea Grant College Program, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawai'i at M��noa, Honolulu, Hawai'i, USA. ORCID
Irina Koester: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
Daniel Petras: Collaborative Mass Spectrometry Innovation Center, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, UC San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
Louis-Felix Nothias: Collaborative Mass Spectrometry Innovation Center, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, UC San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
Jacqueline Comstock: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology and Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA.
Brandie M White: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA.
Lihini I Aluwihare: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
Barbara A Bailey: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA.
Craig A Carlson: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology and Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA.
Pieter C Dorrestein: Collaborative Mass Spectrometry Innovation Center, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, UC San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
Andreas F Haas: NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research and Utrecht University, Texel, the Netherlands.
Linda Wegley Kelly: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA. ORCID
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) comprises diverse compounds with variable bioavailability across aquatic ecosystems. The sources and quantities of DOM can influence microbial growth and community structure with effects on biogeochemical processes. To investigate the chemodiversity of labile DOM in tropical reef waters, we tracked microbial utilisation of over 3000 untargeted mass spectrometry ion features exuded from two coral and three algal species. Roughly half of these features clustered into over 500 biologically labile spectral subnetworks annotated to diverse structural superclasses, including benzenoids, lipids, organic acids, heterocyclics and phenylpropanoids, comprising on average one-third of the ion richness and abundance within each chemical class. Distinct subsets of these labile compounds were exuded by algae and corals during the day and night, driving differential microbial growth and substrate utilisation. This study expands the chemical diversity of labile marine DOM with implications for carbon cycling in coastal environments.
