Antarctic soil metabolomics: a pilot study
Author(s)
Date Issued
2023
Type
article
Volume
24
Issue
15
Abstract
In Antarctica, ice-free areas can be found along the coast, on mountain peaks, and in
the McMurdo Dry Valleys, where microorganisms well-adapted to harsh conditions can survive
and reproduce. Metabolic analyses can shed light on the survival mechanisms of Antarctic soil
communities from both coastal sites, under different plant coverage stages, and inner sites where
slow-growing or dormant microorganisms, low water availability, salt accumulation, and a limited
number of primary producers make metabolomic profiling difficult. Here, we report, for the first
time, an efficient protocol for the extraction and the metabolic profiling of Antarctic soils based
on the combination of NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry (MS). This approach was set up
on samples harvested along different localities of Victoria Land, in continental Antarctica, devoid
of or covered by differently developed biological crusts. NMR allowed for the identification of
thirty metabolites (mainly sugars, amino acids, and organic acids) and the quantification of just over
twenty of them. UPLC-MS analysis identified more than twenty other metabolites, in particular
flavonoids, medium- and long-chain fatty acids, benzoic acid derivatives, anthracenes, and quinones.
Our results highlighted the complementarity of the two analytical techniques. Moreover, we demonstrated that their combined use represents the “gold standard” for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of little-explored samples, such as those collected from Antarctic soils
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2023.Ciaramelli et al metabolomic pilot study.pdf
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Checksum (MD5)
532efccae5d58cdf5df3a9b87d7351a9
Project(s)
PNRA18_00015