Environmental Metabolomics of Aquatic Organisms

This article aims to provide an introduction to the use of NMR spectroscopy as a tool for environmental metabolomics of aquatic organisms. A brief introduction discussing the aquatic environment and the types of exposure, where initial publications and major contributors to the field are presented, is followed by examples of studies where effects of different pollutants and stressors are reviewed by type, divided into ecophysiology and ecotoxicology. Studies covered are natural environmental stressors and further, endocrine disruptors, oil, organic pollutants/pesticides, and heavy metals. Experimental noise and confounding factors are discussed briefly. Environmental metabolomics on aquatic organisms by NMR is shown to be an important and powerful technique, which in many cases has lower detection limits than conventional and apical responses to exposure. In addition, this approach presents mechanistic insight into the modes of toxicity by either identified metabolites after multivariate analysis or quantitative approaches where quantitative data are used.