Prediction of habitat complexity using a trait-based approach on coral reefs in Guam.

Scleractinian corals are primary contributors to the structural complexity of coral reef ecosystems. The structure derived from their carbonate skeletons underpins the biodiversity and myriad of ecosystem services provided by coral reefs. This study used a trait-based approach to provide new insights into the relationships between habitat complexity and coral morphology.

Detection of Natural Products and Their Producers in Ocean Sediments.

Thousands of natural products have been identified from cultured microorganisms, yet evidence of their production in the environment has proven elusive. Technological advances in mass spectrometry, combined with public databases, now make it possible to address this disparity by detecting compounds directly from environmental samples. Here, we used adsorbent resins, tandem mass spectrometry, and next-generation sequencing to assess the metabolome of marine sediments and its relationship to bacterial community structure.

Before platelets: the production of platelet-activating factor during growth and stress in a basal marine organism.

Corals and humans represent two extremely disparate metazoan lineages and are therefore useful for comparative evolutionary studies. Two lipid-based molecules that are central to human immunity, platelet-activating factor (PAF) and Lyso-PAF were recently identified in scleractinian corals. To identify processes in corals that involve these molecules, PAF and Lyso-PAF biosynthesis was quantified in conditions known to stimulate PAF production in mammals (tissue growth and exposure to elevated levels of ultraviolet light) and in conditions unique to corals (competing with neighbouring colonies over benthic space).

Creating a 3D microbial and chemical snapshot of a human habitat.

One of the goals of forensic science is to identify individuals and their lifestyle by analyzing the trace signatures left behind in built environments. Here, microbiome and metabolomic methods were used to see how its occupants used an office and to also gain insights into the lifestyle characteristics such as diet, medications, and personal care products of the occupants. 3D molecular cartography, a molecular visualization technology, was used in combination with mass spectrometry and microbial inventories to highlight human-environmental interactions.

Mass Spectrometry Based Molecular 3D-Cartography of Plant Metabolites.

Plants play an essential part in global carbon fixing through photosynthesis and are the primary food and energy source for humans. Understanding them thoroughly is therefore of highest interest for humanity. Advances in DNA and RNA sequencing and in protein and metabolite analysis allow the systematic description of plant composition at the molecular level.

Mass Spectrometry-Based Visualization of Molecules Associated with Human Habitats.

The cars we drive, the homes we live in, the restaurants we visit, and the laboratories and offices we work in are all a part of the modern human habitat. Remarkably, little is known about the diversity of chemicals present in these environments and to what degree molecules from our bodies influence the built environment that surrounds us and vice versa. We therefore set out to visualize the chemical diversity of five built human habitats together with their occupants, to provide a snapshot of the various molecules to which humans are exposed on a daily basis.

Sharing and community curation of mass spectrometry data with Global Natural Products Social Molecular Networking.

The potential of the diverse chemistries present in natural products (NP) for biotechnology and medicine remains untapped because NP databases are not searchable with raw data and the NP community has no way to share data other than in published papers. Although mass spectrometry (MS) techniques are well-suited to high-throughput characterization of NP, there is a pressing need for an infrastructure to enable sharing and curation of data. We present Global Natural Products Social Molecular Networking (GNPS; http://gnps.

Plasticity of Streptomyces coelicolor Membrane Composition Under Different Growth Conditions and During Development.

Streptomyces coelicolor is a model actinomycete that is well known for the diversity of its secondary metabolism and its complex life cycle. As a soil inhabitant, it is exposed to heterogeneous and frequently changing environmental circumstances. In the present work, we studied the effect of diverse growth conditions and phosphate depletion on its lipid profile and the relationship between membrane lipid composition and development in S.

Conotoxin truncation as a post-translational modification to increase the pharmacological diversity within the milked venom of Conus magus.

Milked venoms of Conus demonstrate direct lineage to US Food and Drug Administration approved and present in-trial drug leads. Yet the complexity of the milked venom has not been adequately investigated or characterized, in a sustainable manner. In this study we determine the extent of molecular mass differentiation in milked venom from captive Conus magus and confirm the expression of known conotoxin constituents.