Metabolomics: Developing a chemical specific fingerprint

We combine cell assays and metabolomics to create a powerful tool, which emerges to elevate the identification of new control chemicals. We combined the use of bigheaded carp fry cell line with metabolite profiling to describe the dose response to thiram. Thiram is a registered pesticide commonly used as a fungicide in the field or as a seed protectant and is known to be toxic to fish. Seven concentrations of thiram were used to dose bighead carp fry cells and silver carp fry cells. II. We identified 700 metabolomic markers and 41 of those markers exhibited a dose response to thiram in the bighead carp fry cells. We identified 1590 metabolomic markers with 205 of those markers exhibited a dose response to thiram in the silver carp fry cells. When the metabolites of both cell lines are compared using volcano plots, 16 metabolomic markers were identified as significant. III. A smaller subset of metabolites indicate that a thiram specific metabolomic fingerprint exists that is not species specific, but instead toxin specific. Application of toxin fingerprints (toxin specific but species independent metabolites) can be used to address the cause of ecological significant events, such as mass fish kills.