Metabolomic Insights into Marine Phytoplankton Diversity

Abstract

The democratization of sequencing technologies fostered a leap in our knowledge of the diversity of marine phytoplanktonic microalgae, revealing many previously unknown species and lineages. The evolutionary history of the diversification of microalgae can be inferred from the analysis of their genome sequences. However, the link between the DNA sequence and the associated phenotype is notoriously difficult to assess, all the more so for marine phytoplanktonic microalgae for which the lab culture and, thus, biological experimentation is very tedious. Here, we explore the potential of a high-throughput untargeted metabolomic approach to explore the phenotypic–genotypic gap in 12 marine microalgae encompassing 1.2 billion years of evolution. We identified species- and lineage-specific metabolites. We also provide evidence of a very good correlation between the molecular divergence, inferred from the DNA sequences, and the metabolomic divergence, inferred from the complete metabolomic profiles. These results provide novel insights into the potential of chemotaxonomy in marine phytoplankton and support the hypothesis of a metabolomic clock, suggesting that DNA and metabolomic profiles co-evolve.

The Genome of the Haptophyte Diacronema lutheri (Pavlova lutheri, Pavlovales): A Model for Lipid Biosynthesis in Eukaryotic Algae

“…Pavlova sp. also synthesize additional betaine lipids including 1,2-diacylglyceryl-3- O -carboxyhydroxymethylcholine (DGCC) and 1,2-diaclyglyceryl-3- O- 2′-(hydroxmethyl)-(N, N, N-trimethyl)-β-alanine (DGTA), plus some unusual dihydroxylated sterols (pavlovols) that are unique to the class ( Volkman 2016 ; Li-Beisson et al 2019 ; Marcellin-Gros et al 2020 ).…”

Metabolomics of Chlorophylls and Carotenoids: Analytical Methods and Metabolome-Based Studies

“…Sometimes, such correlations are successfully established despite the genetic background or in a timeline fashion [101,[151][152][153][154][155][156]. Additionally, it is possible to distinguish different genetic backgrounds with chemotaxonomic purposes [157], establishing species-and lineage-specific metabolites in marine microalgae [158], and differentiate chemotypes of selected accessions [159]. The metabolomics of chlorophylls and carotenoids could also be used to analyze the effects of postharvest treatments on the metabolism of edible plants [160][161][162][163][164] or for the identification of fast and unequivocal biochemical markers in breeding programs [165,166].…”

Toxicity of Naphthenic Acids on the Chlorophyll Fluorescence Parameters and Antioxidant Enzyme Activity of Heterosigma akashiwo

“…Phytoplankton are the primary producers in marine ecosystems and the foundation of the structure and function of marine ecosystems [18]. The proliferation of an oil spill can cause harmful algal blooms (HABs) to break out, and HABs are more likely to occur in coastal and port areas due to natural and anthropogenic influences [19,20].…”