Metabolomics is a tool with immense potential for providing insight into the impact of biological processes on the environment. Here, we used metabolomics methods to characterize intracellular metabolites within marine microorganisms during a manipulation experiment that was designed to test the impact of two sources of microbial mortality, protozoan grazing and viral lysis. Intracellular metabolites were analyzed with targeted and untargeted mass spectrometry methods. The treatment with reduced viral mortality showed the largest changes in metabolite concentrations, although there were organic compounds that shifted when the impact of protozoan grazers was reduced. Intracellular concentrations of guanine, phenylalanine, glutamic acid, and ectoine presented significant responses to changes in the source of mortality. Unexpectedly, variability in metabolite concentrations were not accompanied by increases in microbial abundance which indicates that marine microorganisms altered their internal organic carbon stores without changes in biomass or microbial growth. We used Weighted Correlation Network Analysis (WGCNA) to identify correlations between the targeted and untargeted mass spectrometry data. This analysis revealed multiple unknown organic compounds were correlated with compatible solutes, also called osmolytes or chemical chaperones, which emphasizes the dominant role of compatible solutes in marine microorganisms.

中文翻译：

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在评估微生物死亡率的实验过程中海洋微生物中的细胞内代谢产物。

代谢组学是一种具有巨大潜力的工具，可用于洞悉生物过程对环境的影响。在这里，我们使用代谢组学方法在一个操纵实验中表征海洋微生物内的细胞内代谢产物，该实验旨在测试两种微生物死亡率（原生动物放牧和病毒裂解）的影响。用靶向和非靶向质谱法分析细胞内代谢产物。降低病毒死亡率的治疗方法显示，代谢产物浓度的变化最大，尽管当原生动物放牧者的影响降低时，有机化合物也会转移。细胞内鸟嘌呤，苯丙氨酸，谷氨酸和ectoine的浓度对死亡率的变化有明显的反应。不料，代谢物浓度的变化并没有伴随着微生物丰度的增加，这表明海洋微生物改变了其内部有机碳库，而没有改变生物量或微生物的生长。我们使用加权相关网络分析（WGCNA）来确定目标质谱数据与非目标质谱数据之间的相关性。该分析表明，多种未知的有机化合物与相容性溶质（也称为渗透压或化学伴侣）相关，这强调了相容性溶质在海洋微生物中的主导作用。我们使用加权相关网络分析（WGCNA）来确定目标质谱数据与非目标质谱数据之间的相关性。该分析表明，多种未知的有机化合物与相容性溶质（也称为渗透压或化学伴侣）相关，这强调了相容性溶质在海洋微生物中的主导作用。我们使用加权相关网络分析（WGCNA）来确定目标质谱数据与非目标质谱数据之间的相关性。该分析表明，多种未知的有机化合物与相容性溶质（也称为渗透压或化学伴侣）相关，这强调了相容性溶质在海洋微生物中的主导作用。