TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hu, Chenlin
A1  - Völler, Ginka
A1  - Sussmuth, Roderich
A1  - Dittmann-Thünemann, Elke
A1  - Kehr, Jan-Christoph
T1  - Functional assessment of mycosporine-like amino acids in Microcystis aeruginosa strain PCC 7806
T2  - Environmental microbiology
N2  - The biological role of the widespread mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) in cyanobacteria is under debate. Here, we have constructed and characterized two mutants impaired in MAA biosynthesis in the bloom-forming cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosaPCC 7806. We could identify shinorine as the sole MAA type of the strain, which is exclusively located in the extracellular matrix. Bioinformatic studies as wells as polymerase chain reaction screening revealed that the ability to produce MAAs is sporadically distributed within the genus. Growth experiments and reactive oxygen species quantification with wild-type and mutant strains did not support a role of shinorine in protection against UV or other stress conditions in M.aeruginosaPCC 7806. The shinorine content per dry weight of cells as well as transcription of the mys gene cluster was not significantly elevated in response to UV-A, UV-B or any other stress condition tested. Remarkably, both mutants exhibited pronounced morphological changes compared with the wild type. We observed an increased accumulation and an enhanced hydrophobicity of the extracellular matrix. Our study suggests that MAAs in Microcystis play a negligible role in protection against UV radiation but might be a strain-specific trait involved in extracellular matrix formation and cell-cell interaction.
Y1  - 2015
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/38976
SN  - 1462-2912
SN  - 1462-2920
VL  - 17
IS  - 5
SP  - 1548
EP  - 1559
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Hoboken
ER  -