Molecular Processes in the Marine Environment

Abstract

In the past decade the possible fate of pollutants in the aquatic environment has received much attention. The pathways for heavy metals, chlorinated organic compounds, radioactive wastes, and atmospheric pollutants have been studied in both terrestrial and marine environments.1 Ironically, much of this research, although analytically significant, has been performed without a full appreciation of the metabolic capabilities of organisms which live in aquatic systems. In order to understand the routes taken by man-made chemicals and pollutants we need some basic knowledge of the metabolic capabilities of aquatic biota. We need to answer some crucial questions of the marine environment such as: What are the biosynthetic pathways for halogenated natural products in the marine environment? How are halogenated natural products degraded? Do marine organisms have metabolic capabilities which are different from terrestrial organisms? What are the natural biological cycles for trace elements in the sea? What are the rate-limiting steps for metabolic processes in the sea? How important is a kinetic, rather than a thermodynamic, approach in studying marine ecosystems? Answers are crucial if we hope to understand the fates of pollutants in saltwater systems. I shall attempt to give a few hints on how some of these questions may be answered by adopting a classical biochemical approach. Although our knowledge is sketchy, there are sufficient examples to show that marine biota have evolved to deal with metabolism in a halide ionrich environment.