Lipids are structurally diverse biomolecules that serve multiple roles in cells. As such, they are used as biomarkers in the modern ocean and as paleoproxies to explore the geological past. Here, I review lipid geochemistry, biosynthesis, and compartmentalization; the varied uses of lipids as biomarkers; and the evolution of analytical techniques used to measure and characterize lipids. Advancements in high-resolution accurate-mass mass spectrometry have revolutionized the lipidomic and metabolomic fields, both of which are quickly being integrated into marine meta-omic studies. Lipidomics allows us to analyze tens of thousands of features, providing an open analytical window and the ability to quantify unknown compounds that can be structurally elucidated later. However, lipidome annotation is not a trivial matter and represents one of the biggest challenges for oceanographers, owing in part to the lack of marine lipids in current in silico databases and data repositories. A case study reveals the gaps in our knowledge and open opportunities to answer fundamental questions about molecular-level control of chemical reactions and global-scale patterns in the lipidscape.

中文翻译：

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脂质生物地球化学和现代脂质组学技术


脂质是结构多样的生物分子，在细胞中发挥多种作用。因此，它们被用作现代海洋中的生物标志物和探索地质过去的古代表。在这里，我回顾了脂质地球化学、生物合成和区室化；脂质作为生物标志物的多种用途；以及用于测量和表征脂质的分析技术的发展。高分辨率精确质量质谱的进步彻底改变了脂质组学和代谢组学领域，这两个领域正在迅速融入海洋元组学研究中。脂质组学使我们能够分析数以万计的特征，提供开放的分析窗口以及量化未知化合物的能力，这些化合物可以在以后进行结构阐明。然而，脂质组注释并不是一件小事，它是海洋学家面临的最大挑战之一，部分原因是当前的计算机数据库和数据存储库中缺乏海洋脂质。一个案例研究揭示了我们的知识差距，并提供了回答有关化学反应的分子水平控制和脂质景观的全球范围模式的基本问题的机会。