Induction of a mycosporine-like amino acid (MAA) in the rice-field cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. by UV irradiation
✍ Scribed by Rajeshwar P Sinha; Manfred Klisch; Donat-P Häder
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1999
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 158 KB
- Volume
- 52
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1011-1344
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✦ Synopsis
An ultraviolet-absorbing mycosporine-like amino acid (MAA) has been detected in a filamentous and heterocystous cyanobacterium, Anabaena sp., isolated from a rice paddy field near Varanasi, India. The MAA is isolated and purified by high-performance liquid chromatography. Only one MAA is detected with a retention time of around 2.8 min and an absorption maximum at 334 nm. The MAA is identified as shinorine, a bisubstituted MAA containing both glycine and serine groups. There is an increase in the amount of MAA when the cultures are exposed to photosynthetically active radiation and ultraviolet radiation (PARqUV) in comparison with the cultures exposed to PAR only. This shows that UV stress induces the synthesis of MAA in this cyanobacterium and thus may protect the organism against deleterious high solar radiation, particularly during summer seasons in the tropics.