Direct Capture Methods Reveal Extensive Organohalide Chemical Space in Marine Environments

Area of Science:

• Marine microbiology
• Natural product chemistry
• Metabolomics

Background:

• The ocean harbors vast, largely unexplored microbial natural product biosynthetic potential.
• Accessing this chemical diversity is crucial for discovering novel bioactive compounds.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the chemical diversity of marine microbial communities using Small Molecule In Situ Resin Capture (SMIRC).
• To identify novel natural products and their potential producers in marine environments.
• To establish a framework for linking environmental metabolomics with ecological data.

Main Methods:

• Small Molecule In Situ Resin Capture (SMIRC) was deployed at three distinct coastal sites.
• High-resolution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used for metabolomic profiling.
• Phytoplankton counts were integrated with metabolomic data to identify potential compound producers.

Main Results:

• SMIRC captured metabolomes exhibiting spatial and temporal variability.
• Low compound annotation rates and extensive halogenation indicated high chemical novelty.
• Rare chlorinated polyketides and novel chlorosulfolipids, including one with 11 chlorine atoms, were detected.
• Phytoplankton abundance correlated with specific chlorosulfolipid carbon chain lengths, suggesting producer taxa.

Conclusions:

• Direct environmental sampling via SMIRC effectively captures novel marine natural products.
• Integrating metabolomics with phytoplankton counts provides a viable strategy for identifying microbial producers.
• This approach advances the discovery of ocean-derived chemical entities.