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  • Review Article
  • Published:

Microbial ultraviolet sunscreens

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 9, pages 791–802 (2011)Cite this article

Subjects

Key Points

  • We conduct a Review of the nature and biological importance of ultraviolet (UV) radiation as a detrimental factor in the biology of microorganisms. We focus on the major adaptations of microorganisms for coping with UV-mediated stress.

  • Microorganisms are constrained in their use of sunscreens simply by being small.

  • The best known sunscreens include: scytonemin in cyanobacteria; mycosporines in cyanobacteria, algae and fungi; and melanins in fungi, bacteria and cyanobacteria. The nature, distribution, molecular genetics and regulation of these sunscreens are discussed.

  • Carotenoids are photoprotectants, but not sunscreens.

  • Microbial sunscreens have various applications of in biomedicine and cosmetics.

Abstract

Exposure to the shortest wavelengths in sunlight, ultraviolet light, constitutes a deleterious ecological factor for many microorganisms. The use of secondary metabolites as sunscreens has emerged as an important photoprotective mechanism in certain groups of large-celled microorganisms, such as cyanobacteria, fungi and many protists. In this Review, we describe our current understanding of microbial 'sunscreen' compounds, including scytonemin, the mycosporines and the naphthalene-based melanins. Study of these sunscreens has led to the discovery of new classes of compounds, new metabolic pathways, a deeper understanding of microbial photobiology and the potential for dermatological or biomedical applications.

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Figure 1: Standard solar radiation energy spectrum at the Earth's surface (American Society for Testing Standards) in the visible and ultraviolet ranges.
Figure 2: Aspects of scytonemin biology.
Figure 3: A model for the biosynthetic pathway of scytonemin and its cellular compartmentalization in cyanobacteria.
Figure 4: Mycosporines: structural and spectral properties.
Figure 5: Biosynthesis of mycosporines and its genetic basis in cyanobacteria.
Figure 6: Dihydroxynaphthalene-melanin production in the ascomycetes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, 85287, Arizona, USA

    Qunjie Gao & Ferran Garcia-Pichel

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  1. Qunjie Gao
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Correspondence to Ferran Garcia-Pichel.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary information S1 (figure)

Genomic architecture of the scytonemin operon and associated loci across a range of cyanobacteria. (PDF 486 kb)

Supplementary information S2 (figure)

Comparative genomic arrangement of the MAA locus across phylogenetic groups. (PDF 298 kb)

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Glossary

Excited states

An excited state is an allowable quantum mechanic state of an atom or molecule that is more energetic than the ground state. The atom or molecule will tend to revert to the ground state by losing energy as heat (thermally), through reaction with other atoms or molecules or through the emission of a photon (fluorescence). Absorption of a photon will result in a transition from the ground state to an excited state.

Reactive oxygen species

(ROS). Chemical species of oxygen that possess high reactivity owing to their unpaired electrons. Examples include the superoxide ion and hydrogen peroxide. In photochemistry, singlet oxygen (an excited state of the ground, or triplet, oxygen) is also considered to be an important ROS, and one that can cause indiscriminate sensitized damage.

Pyrimidine adducts

The single products of the direct addition of two adjacent pyrimidines in nucleic acids as a result of absorption of ultraviolet radiation.

Secondary metabolites

Organic molecules produced by living organisms that are not part of common metabolic pathways, but are specialized as particular adaptations to increase fitness in a defined, usually restricted taxonomic group of organisms.

Thermal de-excitation

A transition from an excited to a ground state through the emission of heat, typically through many states of intermediate energy levels.

Photobleaching

Loss of colour from a pigment through photochemical-driven degradation.

Intertidal mats

Thick, usually laminated, benthic microbial biofilm communities (that is, microbial mats) that develop on undisturbed coastal substrates. They are influenced by the tidal range, and thus are only submerged part of the time.

Epilithic biofilms

Substrate-bound microbial communities that are attached to rocks. They can be aquatic or subaerial, and are typical of streams and exposed rocky faces.

Radiotracer

Short for radioactive tracer or radioactive label. A radioisotopically labelled, externally supplied substance that can be tracked through metabolic pathways.

Sunscreen factor

The fraction of incident radiation that is prevented from impinging on the cell by the sunscreen. It varies between 0 (no effect) and 1 (all photons intercepted).

Compatible solutes

(Also known as osmoprotectants).Osmotically active, non-toxic, low-molecular-weight compounds that are synthesized by organisms in order to maintain osmotic homeostasis and cellular volume in response to osmotic changes in the external environment. Known examples include trehalose, glucosylglycerol, glycine and betaine.

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Gao, Q., Garcia-Pichel, F. Microbial ultraviolet sunscreens. Nat Rev Microbiol 9, 791–802 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2649

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