Planta Med 2016; 82(S 01): S1-S381
DOI: 10.1055/s-0036-1596638
Abstracts
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Stromatolite microbial communities as a source of new bioactive secondary metabolites

Authors

  • PM Flatt

    1   Department of Chemistry, Western Oregon University, Monmouth, OR 97361, USA

  • C Damarjanan

    2   Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown South Africa

  • E Isamonger

    2   Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown South Africa

  • JCJ Kalinski

    2   Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown South Africa

  • RA Dorrington

    2   Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown South Africa

  • KL McPhail

    3   Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
14 December 2016 (online)

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    Stromatolites represent some of the earliest microbial communities on Earth. They are formed by accretion and precipitation of layered calcium carbonate structures that result from the metabolic activity of complex microbial communities and the geochemical conditions of their environment. Modern stromatolite communities include aerobic heterotrophs, sulphide-oxidizing bacteria, sulphate-reducing bacteria, fermentative bacteria and cyanobacteria. Phylogenetic analyses revealed the presence of new and known cyanobacterial taxa related to known producers of biologically active secondary metabolites in tufa stromatolites along the South African southeast coast [1]. Prompted us to investigate their potential for producing novel bioactive secondary metabolites. A series of three tide pools provided the opportunity to collect stromatolites along a vertical transect from pool A (highest elevation, low nitrogen input, fresh water), pool B (within high tide zone, brackish water) and pool C (within tidal zone). The microbial community in pool A is particularly distinct. Chemical extracts of stromatolites from different pools have been profiled by LC-MS/MS and the data subjected to molecular spectral networking using the GnPS platform [2] in order to establish the diversity and biological potential of the microbial metabolome that is being expressed within each of these microhabitats. Correlation of the phylogenetic and secondary metabolomic data is expected to guide the isolation of new natural products with biomedical relevance.

    Keywords: Stromatolites, cyanobacteria, LC-MS/MS, spectral networking.

    References:

    [1] Perissinotto R, Bornman TG, Steyn P-P, Miranda NAF, Dorrington RA, Matcher GF, Strydom N, Peer N. Tufa stromatolite ecosystems on the South African south coast. S Afr J Sci 2014; 110: 1 – 8

    [2] Guthals A, Watrous JD, Dorrestein PC, Bandeira N. The spectral networks paradigm in high throughput mass spectrometry. Mol Biosyst 2012; 8: 2535 – 2544


     

    No conflict of interest has been declared by the author(s).