Structural identification of long-chain polyamines associated with diatom biosilica in a Southern Ocean sediment core

Long-chain polyamines (LCPAs) constitute a new family of natural organic compounds that have recently been isolated and characterized from the biosilicified cell walls of diatom cultures. To date, diatom-specific polyamines have not been investigated from the marine environment and their fate in the environment is entirely unknown. Here, we report a series of LCPAs in a diatom frustule-rich sediment core (TNO57-13 PC4), originating from the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean and spanning from the Holocene to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC–ESI–MS) revealed a complex mixture of linear polyamines with at least 28 individual molecular species. Ion trap mass fragmentation studies, combined with high resolution Time of Flight (TOF) mass spectrometry showed that the polyamine pool consisted of a series of N-methylated propylamine compounds attached to a putrescine moiety, with individual LCPAs varying in chain length and degree of methylation. The structural similarity between LCPAs extracted from the diatom-rich sediment core and those extracted from the frustules of cultured diatoms suggests that sedimentary LCPAs are derived from diatom frustules. We hypothesize that these intrinsically labile organic molecular fossils are protected from diagenesis by encapsulation within the frustule. These compounds constitute a new class of biomarkers that could potentially be indicators of diatom species distribution. Isotopic analysis of LCPAs could be used to improve age models for sediment cores that lack calcium carbonate and to improve current interpretations of diatom-based paleoproxies, including diatom-bound nitrogen isotopes.