Biochemical metabolomic profiling of the Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (Acanthaster): New insight into its biology for improved pest management

Full description

This dataset captures the first comprehensive metabolite and lipid profiles of Crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) tissues, a species whose outbreaks pose a major threat to coral reefs. Understanding the chemical biology of COTS is critical because these molecules underpin reproduction, defence, and other processes that could be targeted for population control, making the dataset highly valuable for reef-management research and biocontrol development.


Specimens were collected from Wheeler Reef in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR Wheeler Reef (-18.800 S, 147.521) ) in October 2021 under Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Permit G21/38062.1. Ten distinct COTS tissues including pyloric stomach, pyloric caeca, spines, eyes, skin, sensory tentacles, vertebrae, tube feet, radial nerve, gonads, and eggs were dissected and chemically analysed.The chemical data were collected to characterise baseline metabolite, lipid, and asterosaponin composition across the tissues and to identify tissue-specific chemical signatures that may influence COTS reproduction, defence, and vulnerability. This information supports the search for novel control strategies such as chemotaxis-based biocontrol and the potential commercial use of bioactive compounds found in COTS.


Data acquisition involved targeted and untargeted metabolomics and lipidomics using mass spectrometry to generate high-resolution profiles of small molecules and lipids. This approach enabled the identification of 410 metabolites and 367 lipids, including defensive saponins, reproductive asterosaponins, and abundant metabolites such as inosine and 2-hexyldecanoic acid.


Data interpretation focuses on comparing chemical profiles across tissues to reveal spatial patterns in metabolites, lipids, and asterosaponins. These patterns provide insight into tissue-specific biological functions—such as defence, reproduction, and structural biochemistry—and highlight molecular targets that could be manipulated to reduce COTS populations. The raw dataset is stored at CSIRO.

Lineage

Maintenance and Update Frequency: asNeeded

Statement: The following instrumentation - at CSIRO Brisbane - was used to acquire the metabolomics data: Targeted analysis - Agilent Infinity Flex II UHPLC coupled to an Agilent 6470 Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (LC-QQQ-MS) Untargeted analysis - Agilent Infinity Flex II UHPLC coupled to an Agilent 6546 Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (LC-QToF-MS) Quality control: Blanks, amino acid and organic standard mixtures and pooled biological QC samples were also run at the beginning of the project and after every tenth sample.