GNPS Metabolomics Workbench ST001514 - GNPS Community metabolomes reflect taxon-specific fingerprints of phytoplankton in the ocean

b'Phytoplankton transform inorganic carbon into thousands of biomolecules, including polar metabolites that represent an important pool of labile fixed carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. Metabolite production is not identical among phytoplankton, and the flux of these molecules through the microbial loop depends on compound-specific bioavailability to a wider microbial community. Yet relatively little is known about the diversity or concentration of polar metabolites within marine plankton. Here we evaluate 313 metabolites in 21 phytoplankton species and in natural marine particles across environmental gradients to show that bulk community metabolomes reflect the phytoplankton community on a chemical level.'