Recycling of dissolved organic matter (DOM) by microorganisms is an important process in marine nutrient cycling. An understanding of the assimilation of different types of DOM into the metabolism of marine microbes would greatly enhance our understanding of the oceanic nutrient web, and it has been hypothesized that excreted small molecules, e.g. quorum sensing signals and/or polyunsaturated aldehydes, may have an effect on microbial metabolism. We used biochemical assays and liquid chromotagraphy tandem mass spectrometry based metabolomics to measure the metabolome of microbial consortia collected from the open ocean as well as to measure metabolic differences in consortia treated with either quorum sensing molecules (acylhomoserine lactones and autoinducer 2) or polyunsaturated aldehydes. From these studies we see changes in phosphorus acquisition as well as metabolite pools, and these data will be presented along with discussion of the impact of excreted small molecules on the metabolism of marine microbes.

Metabolic impact of signaling and defense molecules on marine microbial metabolism as assessed by LC-MS/MS metabolomics

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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