Makenna Martin
Research Mentor: Ashootosh Tripathi
Mentor Department: Life Sciences Institute, Pharmacy
Author(s): Ashootosh Tripathi, Pankaj Kumar, Makenna Martin
Session: Session 4 (1:00 PM – 1:50 PM)
Presentation Type: Poster 63
Abstract
Lake Erie, the shallowest of the Great Lakes, is a dynamic and chemically complex freshwater ecosystem that often experiences toxin-producing Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) driven by nutrient runoff and water warming. While well-known toxins such as microcystins, potent hepatotoxins produced by Microcystis spp., and anabaenopeptins, secondary toxins secreted by Dolichospermum, have been extensively studied, many other cyanobacterial metabolites remain unexplored. These uncharacterized compounds represent a potential reservoir for drug discovery, particularly in cancer and antimicrobial therapies. In this study, algal biomass was collected directly from blooms in Lake Erie and subjected to organic solvent extraction to isolate metabolites. The crude extracts were fractionated using flash chromatography, followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis of all fractions. LC-MS/MS data were used for dereplication by feature-based molecular networking on GNPS (Global Natural Products Social), utilizing publicly available MS/MS databases. A manual and AI dereplication strategy was also employed to compare the detected metabolites against the CynoMetDB database, facilitating the identification of known compounds and temporal variation in HABs. Subsequent bioactivity screening of these fractions will be conducted on HEK 293, HepG2, and A549 cell lines to evaluate antiproliferative activity. This approach aims to deepen our understanding of the metabolic complexity of HABs throughout their life cycle, enable the classification and identification of previously unknown cyanobacterial metabolites, and assess the bioactive potential of these molecules, ultimately contributing to both ecological insight and biomedical advancement.
