DOE OSTI · 3393682
ENVnet provides a global molecular resource of dissolved organic matter
Abstract
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is an important component of Earth's carbon cycle and one of the planet's most chemically diverse pools, yet the molecular structures of its constituents remain largely unresolved. This limitation has hindered our ability to link DOM composition to microbial processes and ecosystem function. Here we present ENVnet, a global molecular repository built from tandem mass spectrometry data collected across 13 terrestrial and aquatic environment types, including 419 newly generated samples that expand publicly available DOM metabolomics data and cover previously underrepresented environments. By computationally deconvolving chimeric mass spectra, a longstanding challenge in environmental metabolomics, we recover high-quality fragmentation data for >22,000 distinct molecular features (defined by a specific precursor mass and fragmentation pattern). Using ENVnet, we uncover conserved and environment-specific molecular patterns in DOM composition and underlying biogeochemical processes. We also use molecular features encoded in ENVnet to train predictive models of DOM persistence, allowing molecular-level assessment of microbial turnover in independent systems.
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Bowen, Benjamin P. [USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Berkeley, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000313683958), Harwood, Thomas V. [USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Berkeley, CA (United States)], de Raad, Markus [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000182639198), Louie, Katherine B. [USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Berkeley, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000267877558), Kosina, Suzanne M. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000328851248), McMahon, Katherine D. [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)] (ORCID:000000027038026X), Taş, Neslihan [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)], Bouskill, Nicholas J. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)], Hazen, Terry C. [Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000225369993), Bench, Shellie R. [LRC Systems, Burlingame, CA (United States)], Mackelprang, Rachel [California State University, Northridge (CSUN), CA (United States)], Petras, Daniel [Univ. of California, Riverside, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000265613022), Wang, Mingxun [Univ. of California, Riverside, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000176476097), Maestre, Fernando T. [King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal (Saudi Arabia)] (ORCID:0000000274344856), Giovannoni, Stephen J. [USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Berkeley, CA (United States); Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)] (ORCID:0000000224314296), Northen, Trent R. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Berkeley, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000184043259). 2026-07-21. ENVnet provides a global molecular resource of dissolved organic matter. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-026-03230-0
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