Particulate and dissolved metabolite distributions along a latitudinal transect of the western Atlantic Ocean
Abstract
Metabolites, or the small organic molecules that are synthesized by cells during metabolism, comprise a complex and dynamic pool of carbon in the ocean. They are an essential currency in interactions at the population and community levels of biological organization. Characterizing metabolite distributions inside microbial cells and dissolved in seawater is essential to understanding the controls on their production and fate, as well as their roles in shaping marine microbial food webs. Here, we apply a targeted metabolomics method to quantify particulate and dissolved distributions of a suite of biologically relevant metabolites including vitamins, amino acids, nucleic acids, osmolytes, and intermediates in biosynthetic pathways along a latitudinal transect in the western Atlantic Ocean. We find that, in the upper 200 m of the water column, most particulate or intracellular metabolites positively covary with the most abundant microbial taxa. In contrast, dissolved metabolites exhibited greater variability with differences in distribution between ocean regions. Although fewer particulate metabolites were detected below 200 m, the particulate metabolites identified in the deep ocean may be linked to adaptive physiological strategies of deep‐sea microbes. Based on the identified metabolite distributions, we propose relationships between certain metabolites and microbial populations, and find that dissolved metabolite distributions are not directly related to their particulate abundances.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Dec 23, 2022
- Source ID
- 10.1002/lno.12275
Entities
People
- Elizabeth B. Kujawinski
- Krista Longnecker
- Maya P. Bhatia
- Melissa C. Kido Soule
- Michael W. Lomas
- Steven J. Hallam
- Winifred M Johnson
Organizations
- Ambrose Monell Foundation
- Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
- G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- National Science Foundation
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
- Simons Foundation
- United States Department of Energy
- University of Alberta
- University of British Columbia
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution