CONVERGENCE AND DIVERGENCE IN THE NORTH PACIFIC METABOLOME

Metabolites are small, organic, biomolecules that are the product of microbial metabolism and interactions and are major substrates in global elemental cycles of carbon and other elements. At the ecosystem level, microbial metabolite composition is controlled by a combination of taxonomy and physiology but the direct links between microbial groups and metabolites remains poorly understood. Here we focus on mapping the distribution of osmolytes, metabolites used by organisms to acclimate to their environment that dominate quantifiable marine metabolomes. We measure these compounds in both dissolved and particulate phases across multiple cruises in the North Pacific and Puget Sound, spanning large gradients in nutrients and productivity. We find osmolyte concentrations in dissolved and particulate phases are correlated across our dataset with most of the total metabolite pool existing outside of cells. We combine our metabolite datasets with co-located datasets of microbial community composition and nutrients and ask how these factors relate to marine metabolite distributions. Some compounds display sharp latitudinal gradients in relative abundance while others, such as betaines, are remarkably consistent despite large changes in biomass, community composition, and nutrients. Time of day also emerged as a major driver of metabolome composition with diel processes driving the abundance of compounds such as sucrose at basin scales. These results reveal the combined impact of community composition and physiology on marine metabolomes.

Presentation Preference: Oral

Primary Presenter: Joshua Sacks, University Of Washington (jssacks@uw.edu)

Authors:

Joshua Sacks, University Of Washington  (jssacks@uw.edu)

Laura Carlson, University of Washington  (truxal@uw.edu)

Frank Ferrer-González, University Of Washington  (xaquatic@uw.edu)

Anitra Ingalls, University Of Washington  (aingalls@uw.edu)