DOE OSTI · 3014080
An ecological framework for microbial metabolites in the ocean ecosystem
Abstract
The ocean microbe‐metabolite network involves thousands of individual metabolites that encompass a breadth of chemical diversity and biological functions. These microbial metabolites mediate biogeochemical cycles, facilitate ecological relationships, and impact ecosystem health. While analytical advancements have begun to illuminate such roles, a challenge in navigating the deluge of marine metabolomics information is to identify a subset of metabolites that have the greatest ecosystem impact. Here, we present an ecological framework to distill knowledge of fundamental metabolites that underpin marine ecosystems. We borrow terms from macroecology that describe important species, namely “dominant,” “keystone,” and “indicator” species, and apply these designations to metabolites within the ocean microbial metabolome. These selected metabolites may shape marine community structure, function, and health and provide focal points for enhanced study of microbe‐metabolite networks. Applying ecological concepts to marine metabolites provides a path to leverage metabolomics data to better describe and predict marine microbial ecosystems.
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Durham, Bryndan P. [Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)] (ORCID:000000022253157X), Johnson, Winifred M. [Univ. of North Carolina, Wilmington, NC (United States)] (ORCID:0000000176929738), Bannon, Catherine C. [Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen (Germany); Dalhousie Univ., Halifax, NS (Canada)] (ORCID:0000000285811069), Bertrand, Erin M. [Dalhousie Univ., Halifax, NS (Canada)] (ORCID:0000000259506810), Ingalls, Anitra E. [Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000319537329), Edwards, Bethanie R. [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)], Apprill, Amy [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000242492977), Boysen, Angela K. [Pacific Lutheran Univ., Tacoma, WA (United States)] (ORCID:000000018193630X), Bundy, Randelle M. [Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000206003953), Chen, Huan [Florida State Univ., Tallahassee, FL (United States). National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab)] (ORCID:0000000260326569), Ferrer‐González, Frank X. [Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000305705168), Fiore, Cara [Appalachian State University, Boone, NC (United States)] (ORCID:0000000241238416), Heal, Katherine R. [Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000245041039), Kuhlisch, Constanze [Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot (Israel)] (ORCID:0000000278235382), Liu, Shuting [Kean Univ., Union, NJ (United States)] (ORCID:0000000235371587), Lu, Kaijun [Univ. of Texas at Austin, Port Aransas, TX (United States)] (ORCID:0000000175094900), Meke, Laurel E. [Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)] (ORCID:0000000217870171), Pontrelli, Sammy [Katholieke Univ. Leuven, Heverlee (Belgium); Flemish Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), Leuven (Belgium)] (ORCID:0000000162658842), Vaiyapuri Ramalingam, Prabavathy [M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai (India)] (ORCID:000000028260040X), Reigel, Alicia M. [Washington and Lee Univ., Lexington, VA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000213097046), Sacks, Joshua S. [Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000285130589), Schreier, Jeremy E. [California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000188645599), Sekar, Jegan [M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai (India)] (ORCID:0000000332285736), Uchimiya, Mario [Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000348021428), Kujawinski, Elizabeth B. [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA (United States)] (ORCID:000000018261971X). 2025-07-19. An ecological framework for microbial metabolites in the ocean ecosystem. https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.70046
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