NMR-based Metabolomics of Daphnia magna: Insights into Aquatic Ecosystem Health

Metabolomics has gained traction as an essential tool to understand the responses of organisms to environmental stressors. Because of its importance as an aquatic ecosystem member and its ubiquity in ecotoxicology studies, the crustacean zooplankter Daphnia magna has been the focus of many metabolomic studies. An overview of the metabolomics research conducted using D. magna with NMR is provided in this article. Most of the studies are premised on providing a biochemical context to the D. magna responses to anthropogenic pollutants, including metals and a range of commonly used household and industrial compounds. However, beyond pollutant stress, there is also research on other environmental stressors, such as poor diet quality, salinity, and bacterial infection. In addition, in vivo analyses of D. magna using NMR provide a new avenue for research, where metabolites can be monitored in real time. Changes in the metabolome are seen at levels well below mortality thresholds and show that metabolomics is a more sensitive gauge of stress than the apical endpoint tests currently used in aquatic toxicology.