title: Soft Corals Biodiversity in the Egyptian Red Sea: A Comparative MS and NMR Metabolomics Approach of Wild and Aquarium Grown Species.
abstract: Marine life has developed unique metabolic and physiologic capabilities and advanced symbiotic relationships to survive in the varied and complex marine ecosystems. Herein, metabolite composition of the soft coral genus Sarcophyton was profiled with respect to its species and different habitats along the coastal Egyptian Red Sea via (1)H NMR and ultra performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) large-scale metabolomics analyses. The current study extends the application of comparative secondary metabolite profiling from plants to corals revealing for metabolite compositional differences among its species via a comparative MS and NMR approach. This was applied for the first time to investigate the metabolism of 16 Sarcophyton species in the context of their genetic diversity or growth habitat. Under optimized conditions, we were able to simultaneously identify 120 metabolites including 65 diterpenes, 8 sesquiterpenes, 18 sterols, and 15 oxylipids. Principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal projection to latent structures-discriminant analysis (OPLS) were used to define both similarities and differences among samples. For a compound based classification of coral species, UPLC-MS was found to be more effective than NMR. The main differentiations emanate from cembranoids and oxylipids. The specific metabolites that contribute to discrimination between soft corals of S. ehrenbergi from the three different growing habitats also belonged to cembrane type diterpenes, with aquarium S. ehrenbergi corals being less enriched in cembranoids compared to sea corals. PCA using either NMR or UPLC-MS data sets was found equally effective in predicting the species origin of unknown Sarcophyton. Cyclopropane containing sterols observed in abundance in corals may act as cellular membrane protectant against the action of coral toxins, that is, cembranoids.
authors.affiliation: Pharmacognosy Department, College of Pharmacy, Cairo University , Kasr el Aini st., P.B. 11562, Cairo 12613, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohamed A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Farag
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry , Weinberg 3, D-06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Porzel
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Red Sea Branch, Hurghada 84511, Egypt.
authors.forename: Montasser A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Al-Hammady
authors.affiliation: Phytochemistry Department, National Research Centre , 33 El Bohouth St, Dokki, Giza 12622, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohamed-Elamir F
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Hegazy
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute of Tropical Marine Ecology, Fahrenheit Str.6, D-28359 Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Achim
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.affiliation: Phytochemistry Department, National Research Centre , 33 El Bohouth St, Dokki, Giza 12622, Egypt.
authors.forename: Tarik A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Mohamed
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute of Tropical Marine Ecology, Fahrenheit Str.6, D-28359 Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Hildegard
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Westphal
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry , Weinberg 3, D-06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.
authors.forename: Ludger A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Wessjohann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D044822:Biodiversity; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D004224:Diterpenes / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D004534:Egypt; D019156:Indian Ocean; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D055432:Metabolomics; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D064210:Secondary Metabolism; D012717:Sesquiterpenes / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D013261:Sterols / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004224:Diterpenes; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; D013261:Sterols
keywords: Sarcophyton; cembranoids; corals; cyclopropyl sterols; metabolomic fingerprinting; nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR); ultra performance liquid chromatography−mass spectrometry (UPLC−MS)