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Abstract

The cyanobacterium Chlorogloeopsis PCC 6912 was found to synthesize and accumulate two putative UV sunscreen compounds of the mycosporine (mycosporine-like amino acid; MAA) type: mycosporine-glycine and shinorine. These MAAs were not constitutively present in the cells; their synthesis could be induced specifically either by exposure to UVB radiation (280-320 nm) or by osmotic stress, but not by other stress factors such as heat or cold shock, nutrient limitation or photooxidative stress. A significant synergistic enhancement of MAA synthesis was observed when both stress factors were applied in combination. Although osmotic stress could induce MAA syn thesis, comparison of the intracellular contents of MAAs with those of sugar osmolytes (glucose and trehalose) indicated that MAAs play no significant role in attaining osmotic homeostasis. UVB strongly enhanced the accumulation of shinorine, whereas osmotic stress had a more pronounced effect on mycosporine-glycine. This differential effect on the steady-state contents of each MAA could be explained either by differential regulation of biosynthesis or by differential loss rates of MAAs (leakage) under each condition. A preferential leakage of mycosporine-glycine from the cells after a hypoosmotic shock was detected. The results are interpreted in terms of an adaptive necessity for a combined regulatory control responding to both UV and external osmotic conditions in organisms that accumulate water-soluble sunscreens intracellularly.