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Constitutive and UV-inducible synthesis of photoprotective compounds (carotenoids and mycosporines) by freshwater yeasts

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Abstract

Twelve yeasts isolated from lakes of Northwestern Patagonia, Argentina, belonging to eight genera (Sporobolomyces, Sporidiobolus, Rhodotorula, Rhodosporidium, Cystofilobasidium, Cryptococcus, Torulaspora, and Candida) were analysed for their ability to produce photoprotective compounds. For this purpose, three laboratory experiments were performed to study the effect of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and PAR in combination with UV radiation (PAR + UVR) on the production of carotenoids and mycosporines. The synthesis of carotenoid compounds was clearly stimulated in six out of nine red yeast strains tested upon exposure to PAR or PAR + UVR; however, the latter conditions produced a stronger response than PAR alone. The increase in carotenoids in the red strains under PAR + UVR irradiation showed a negative exponential relationship with their basal carotenoid content, suggesting that cells with higher constitutive levels of carotenoids are less responsive to induction by PAR + UVR. Three red yeasts, Rhodotorula minuta, Rh. pinicola, and Rhodotorula sp., and the colourless Cryptococcus laurentii produced a UV-absorbing compound when exposed to PAR or PAR + UVR. This compound showed an absorption maximum at 309–310 nm and was identified as mycosporine-glutaminol-glucoside (myc–glu–glu). In these strains, exposure to PAR or PAR + UVR resulted in elevated concentrations of both carotenoids and myc–glu–glu. This is the first report on the production of mycosporines by yeasts. All strains that developed under PAR + UVR were able to synthesise carotenoids either constitutively or in response to PAR exposure, and a few of them also produced myc–glu–glu when exposed to PAR. Collectively, our results suggest that the presence of carotenoids, either alone or in combination with mycosporines, are required for sustaining growth under exposure to PAR + UVR in the freshwater yeast strains studied.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unidad Postal Universidad, Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, 8400 San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina

    Diego Libkind, Patricia Pérez, Ruben Sommarug, María del Carmen Diéguez, Silvia Brizzio & María van Broock

  2. Laboratory of Aquatic Photobiology and Plankton Ecology, Institute of Zoology and Limnology, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstr. 25, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

    Ruben Sommarug

  3. Laboratorio de Ecología y Fotobiología Acuática, Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas, Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECH), CC 164 (B7130IWA) Chascomús, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Marcela Ferraro & Horacio Zagarese

Authors
  1. Diego Libkind
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  2. Patricia Pérez
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  3. Ruben Sommarug
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  4. María del Carmen Diéguez
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  6. Silvia Brizzio
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  7. Horacio Zagarese
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  8. María van Broock
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Libkind, D., Pérez, P., Sommarug, R. et al. Constitutive and UV-inducible synthesis of photoprotective compounds (carotenoids and mycosporines) by freshwater yeasts. Photochem Photobiol Sci 3, 281–286 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1039/b310608j

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