4.5 Review

Advances in the application of amino acid nitrogen isotopic analysis in ecological and biogeochemical studies

Journal

ORGANIC GEOCHEMISTRY
Volume 113, Issue -, Pages 150-174

Publisher

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2017.07.009

Keywords

Amino acid; Nitrogen isotopic composition; Trophic discrimination factor; Trophic position; Ecology; Biogeochemistry

Funding

  1. JST CREST [JPMJCR13A4, JPMJCR13A3]
  2. Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
  3. Cluster of Excellence 80 The Future Ocean under the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
  4. Directorate For Geosciences
  5. Division Of Ocean Sciences [1433846, 1433313] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
  6. Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [17H01168, 16H06409, 17H05018, 15KK0151] Funding Source: KAKEN

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Compound-specific isotopic analysis of amino acids (CSIA-AA) has emerged in the last decade as a powerful approach for tracing the origins and fate of nitrogen in ecological and biogeochemical studies. This approach is based on the empirical observation that source amino acids (SAAs) (i.e., phenylalanine), fractionate N-15 very little (< 0.5 parts per thousand) during trophic transfer, whereas trophic AAs (TAAs) (i.e., glutamic acid), are greatly (similar to 6-8 parts per thousand) enriched in N-15 during each trophic step. The differential fractionation of these two AA groups can provide a valuable estimate of consumer trophic position that is internally indexed to the baseline delta N-15 value of the integrated food web. In this paper, we critically review the analytical methods for determining the nitrogen isotopic composition of AAs by gas chromatography-isotope-ratio mass spectrometry. We also discuss methodological considerations for accurate trophic position assessment of organisms using CSIA-AA. We then discuss the advantages and challenges of the CSIA-AA approach using published case studies across a range of topics, including trophic position assessment in various ecosystems, reconstruction of ancient human diets, reconstruction of animal migration and environmental variability, and assessment of marine organic matter dynamics with new classification of microbial fractionation patterns. It is clear that the CSIA-AA approach can provide unique insight into the sources, cycling, and trophic modification of organic nitrogen as it flows through systems. However, this approach will be greatly improved through continued exploration into how biochemical, physiological, and ecological mechanisms affect isotopic fractionation of individual AAs. We end this review with a perspective on future work that will promote the evolution of the rapidly growing field of CSIA-AA. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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