The cyanobacterium Nostoc commune is adapted to the terrestrial environment and has a cosmopolitan distribution. In this study, the role of extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) in the desiccation tolerance of photosynthesis in N. commune was examined. Although photosynthetic O 2 evolution was not detected in desiccated colonies, the ability of the cells to evolve O 2 rapidly recovered after rehydration. The air-dried colonies contained approximately 10% (wt/wt) water, and field-isolated, natural colonies with EPS were highly water absorbent and were rapidly hydrated by atmospheric moisture. The cells embedded in EPS in Nostoc colonies were highly desiccation tolerant, and O 2 evolution was not damaged by air drying. Although N. commune was determined to be a mesophilic cyanobacterium, the cells with EPS were heat tolerant in a desiccated state. EPS could be removed from cells by homogenizing colonies with a blender and filtering with coarse filter paper. This treatment to remove EPS did not damage Nostoc cells or their ability to evolve O 2 , but O 2 evolution was significantly damaged by desiccation treatment of the EPS-depleted cells. Similar to the EPS-depleted cells, the laboratory culture strain KU002 had only small amount of EPS and was highly sensitive to desiccation. In the EPS-depleted cells, O 2 evolution was also sensitive to freeze-thaw treatment. These results strongly suggest that EPS of N. commune is crucial for the stress tolerance of photosynthesis during desiccation and during freezing and thawing.

Mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) are water-soluble molecules that absorb UV-A and UV-B radiation and disperse the energy as heat. MAAs show great diversity in their molecular structures, which exhibit a range of molecular weights spanning 188 to 1050 Daltons. MAAs are utilized in a wide variety of organisms including prokaryotes and eukaryotic micro-organisms that inhabit aquatic, terrestrial, and marine environments. These features suggest that MAAs are stable and fundamental molecules that allow these organisms to live under UV irradiation. MAAs are thought to have been greatly important to ancient forms of life on Earth, functioning as a primary sunscreen to reduce short-wavelength light. Structurally different MAAs might have been developed in MAA-producing organisms during their environmental adaptation. Harmful irradiation directly damages biomolecules, including lipids, proteins and DNA, and induces oxidative stress through radical-propagating processes. Thus, MAAs are expected to play an additional role in the antioxidant system. This review focuses on MAAs with radical scavenging activities. To cover all the reported MAAs known thus far, we surveyed the CAS database and have summarized the structures and the chemical and physical properties of these MAAs, including their antioxidant activities.

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SummaryCyanobacteria acclimate to low-temperature conditions by desaturating their membrane lipids. The desB (w3 desaturase) and desC (A9 desaturase) genes of Synechococcus sp. strain PCC 7002 were cloned and characterized, and the expression of the desA (A12 desaturase), desB and desC genes was studied as a function of temperature. The steady-state mRNA abundance for the desA gene was threefold higher in cells grown at 22°C than in cells grown at 38°C. desB transcripts were not detected at 38C, but were abundant in cells grown at 22°C. Levels of desC mRNA were similar at both growth temperatures. The mRNA levels of each desaturase gene increased within 15min of a temperature shift-down to 22"C, and mRNA levels recovered within 15min after a shift-up to 38°C. The cold-induced accumulation of transcripts from the desAand desB genes was suppressed by the addition of chloramphenicol, but the transient elevation of the desC transcript levels at 22°C was not affected by chloramphenicol. The half-lives of the desA and desB mRNAs were significantly longer in cells grown at 22°C than in cells grown at 38"C, but the desC mRNA had a similar half-life at both temperatures. These studies reveal three patterns of temperature regulation for the desaturase genes, whose expression is tightly controlled by a combination of mRNA synthesis and stabilization. These studies demonstrate that elevation of desaturase mRNA levels is not the rate-limiting event during the low-temperature acclimation of cyanobacteria.

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