Seaweeds are metabolically different from terrestrial plants. However, general metabolite profiles of the three major seaweed groups, the brown, red, and green algae, and the effect of various extraction methods on metabolite profiling results have not been comprehensively explored. In this study, we evaluated the water-soluble metabolites in four brown, five red, and two green algae species collected from two sites in northern Japan, located in the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean.

Freeze-dried seaweed samples were processed by methanol–water extraction with or without chloroform and analysed by capillary electrophoresis- and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for metabolite characterisation. The metabolite concentration profiles showed distinctive characteristic depends on species and taxonomic groups, whereas the extraction methods did not have a significant effect.

Taxonomic differences between the various seaweed metabolite profiles were well defined using only sugar metabolites but no other major compound types. Mannitol was the main sugar metabolites in brown algae, whereas fructose, sucrose, and glucose were found at high concentrations in green algae. In red algae, individual species had some characteristic metabolites, such as sorbitol in Pyropia pseudolinearis and panose in Dasya sessilis. The metabolite profiles generated in this study will be a resource and provide guidance for nutraceutical research studies because the information about metabolites in seaweeds is still very limited compared to that of terrestrial plants.