M/Z: 449.3542

Fig. 4 MALDI-MSI data of mouse lung tissue after administration with D9-choline and U13C-DPPC–containing Poractant alfa surfactant (labels administered 12 h prior to tissue collection). Ion images of (A) m/z 796.6856 ([U13C-DPPC+Na]+), (B) m/z 756.5154 [PC32:0+Na]+), and (C) m/z 765.6079 ([D9-PC32:0+Na]+). D: Overlay image of [U13C-PC32:0+Na]+ (red) and [D9-PC32:0+Na]+ (green). Part-per-million (ppm) mass errors are indicated in parentheses. All images were visualized using total-ion-current normalization and using hotspot removal (high quantile = 99%). DPPC = PC16:0/16:0. MSI, mass spectrometry imaging; PC, phosphatidylcholine; U13C-DPPC, universally 13C-labeled dipalmitoyl PC.

Fig 6c Fig. 6 MALDI-MSI of U13C-PC16:0/16:0 acyl chain remodeling. A: Averaged MALDI mass spectrum from lung tissue collected from mice euthanized 12 h after administration of D9-choline and U13C-DPPC–containing Poractant alfa surfactant. The ion at m/z 828.6321 is assigned as the [M+Na]+ ion of 13C24-PC16:0_20:4 formed by acyl remodeling of U13C-PC16:0/16:0. The “NL” value refers to the intensity of the base peak in the full range MS1 spectrum. B: MS/MS spectrum of precursor ions at m/z 828.5 ± 0.5 with fragment ions originating from [13C24-PC16:0_20:4+Na]+ annotated. Part-per-million (ppm) mass errors are provided in parentheses. C, D: MALDI-MSI data of [U13C-DPPC+Na]+ (blue), [PC36:4+Na]+ (green) and [13C24-PC16:0_20:4+Na]+ (red) in lung tissue collected from mice (C) 12 h and (D) 18 h after label administration. All images were visualized using total-ion-current normalization and hotspot removal (high quantile = 99%). MS/MS, tandem mass spectrometry; MSI, mass spectrometry imaging; PC, phosphatidylcholine; U13C-DPPC, universally 13C-labeled dipalmitoyl PC.

Supplementary Figure S8. MALDI-MSI data of mouse lung tissue administered with D9-choline and U 13C-DPPC–containing Poractant alfa surfactant (labels administered 18 h prior to sacrifice). Ion images of (a) m/z 796.6856 ([U13C-DPPC+Na]+), (b) m/z 756.5154 [PC32:0+Na]+ and (c) m/z 765.6079 ([D9-PC32:0+Na]+). (d) Overlay image of [U13C-DPPC+Na]+ (red) and [D9-PC32:0+Na]+ (green). Parts per million (ppm) mass errors are indicated in parentheses. All images were visualised using totalion-current normalisation and using hotspot removal (high quantile = 99%). DPPC = PC16:0/16:0.

Seagrasses are among the most efficient sinks of carbon dioxide on Earth. While carbon sequestration in terrestrial plants is linked to the microorganisms living in their soils, the interactions of seagrasses with their rhizospheres are poorly understood. Here, we show that the seagrass, Posidonia oceanica excretes sugars, mainly sucrose, into its rhizosphere. These sugars accumulate to µM concentrations—nearly 80 times higher than previously observed in marine environments. This finding is unexpected as sugars are readily consumed by microorganisms. Our experiments indicated that under low oxygen conditions, phenolic compounds from P. oceanica inhibited microbial consumption of sucrose. Analyses of the rhizosphere community revealed that many microbes had the genes for degrading sucrose but these were only expressed by a few taxa that also expressed genes for degrading phenolics. Given that we observed high sucrose concentrations underneath three other species of marine plants, we predict that the presence of plant-produced phenolics under low oxygen conditions allows the accumulation of labile molecules across aquatic rhizospheres.

The human colorectal adenocarcinoma sample was excised during a surgical operation performed at the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. The sample and procedures were carried out in accordance with ethical approval (14/EE/0024).