• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.354.2-354.2
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• 2016

Mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) are small secondary metabolites produced by organisms that live in environments with high volumes of sunlight, is an important group of novel bioactive compounds having immense biotechnological poten-tials due to their UV screening properties and Polypyrrole (PPy) is a type of organic polymer formed by polymerization of pyrrole. A novel composite nanofilm (~60 nm) of mycosporine-like amino acid (MAA) and polypyrrole is synthesized by interfacial polymerization technique. This composite nanofilm is conductive and has strong photoresponse. A photoelectric UV sensor is fabricated by depositing the composite film onto a silicon chip. This UV sensor shows good sensitivity, selectivity and stability for UV detection.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.91-96
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• 2015

Prions are proteinaceous infectious particles that cause neurodegenerative diseases, such as scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans. Although the detailed process, regarding the abnormal conversion of prion proteins (PrP), remains to be fully elucidated, a number of environmental factors appear to affect the formation of misfolded PrP, termed PrP^Sc. Because oceanic algae contain mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs), which exhibit cellular defensive activities under a variety of stress conditions, we investigated the level of PrP^Sc in prion-infected neuroblastoma cells using mycosporine-glycine, porphyra-334 and shinorine. When judged by the level of protease-resistant PrP^Sc in western blots, porphyra-334 and shinorine increased the level of PrP^Sc in cells, but mycosporine-glycine did not. The current results indicate that the MAAs tested in this study enhance the formation of PrP^Sc.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.63-65
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• 2002

This report concerns a putative role of mycosporine-like amino acids (MAA) as natural scavengers of singlet oxygen ($^1$O$_2$) in marine organisms. MAA prepared from the ascidian Lissoclinum patella were found to protect biological systems against detrimental effects of the type II photosensitization in vitro. L. patella MAA were resolved into five components, and the relative $^1$0$_2$ quenching efficiencies were measured for three major components in aqueous media. It turned out that they were all effective in scavenging $^1$0$_2$, to different degrees albeit. The results suggest that physiological relevance of MAA in marine organisms may be found in a 'built-in' defense against photooxidative effects of sunlight.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.445-447
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• 2002

The compositional changes in mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) were investigated in the marine dinoflagellate Scrippsiella sweeneyae exposed to four different spectral compositions and five relative intensities of UV-B (280-320 nm) to UV-A (320-400 nm) + photosynthetically available radiation (PAR: 400-700 nm). Neither dose nor wavelengths of UVR significantly affected the growth rates. UVR caused a significantly increase in cell volume. Cell volume in the >280nm treatment was more than two times greater at 6.8 % of UVR intensity. Production of UVR induced MAAs was dependent on the dose of UVR. However. the induction of MAAs was related to the cell growth. Greater induction of MAAs was observed at shorter wavelengths. The composition of MAAs varied with increasing light intensity of UVR.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.11 no.32
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• pp.77-81
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• 2004

Deoxygadusol (DO) and structurally related mycosporine-like amino acids, i.e. mycosporine glycine (MO) and mycosporine taurine (MT), were isolated from phytoplankton Prorocentrum micans and studied for the reactivity toward singlet oxygen. These water-soluble compounds with a cyclohexenone chromophore were all shown to be highly effective in quenching singlet oxygen ($^1$ $O_2$), with the efficiencies being significantly larger compared with histidine, a well-known $^1$ $O_2$ quencher. The $^1$ $O_2$ reaction rate constant ( $k_{Q}$) of DG was determined to be 5.4 ${\times}$ 10$^{7}$ $M^{-1}$ $s^{-1}$ by a steady state method based on competitive inhibition of rubrene oxidation. The feasibility of this method was confirmed by estimating the $k_{Q}$ values for MG and two other quenchers, furfuryl alcohol and 1,4-diazabicyclo [2,2,2]octane, and comparing with those values determined by the time-resolved $^1$ $O_2$ decay method in the previous work.ork.

• ALGAE
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.177-187
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• 2020

Cyanobacteria have been widely reported to produce a variety of UV-absorbing mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs). Herein, we reported production of the unusual MAA, mycosporine-glycine-alanine (MGA) in the cyanobacterium Sphaerospermopsis torques-reginae ITEP-024 using a newly developed UHPLC-DAD-MS/HRMS (ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection-high resolution tandem mass spectrometry) method. MGA had previously been first identified in a red-algae, but S. torques-reginae strain ITEP-024 is the first cyanobacteria to be reported as an MGA producer. Herein, the chemical structure of MGA is fully elucidated from one-dimensional / two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance and HRMS data analyses. MAAs are unusually produced constitutively in S. torques-reginae ITEP-024, and this production was further enhanced following UV-irradiance. It has been proposed that MAA biosynthesis proceeds in cyanobacteria from the pentose phosphate pathway intermediate sedoheptulose 7-phosphate. Annotation of a gene cluster encoded in the genome sequence of S. torques-reginae ITEP-024 supports these gene products could catalyse the biosynthesis of MAAs. However, addition of glyphosate to cultures of S. torques-reginae ITEP-024 abolished constitutive and ultra-violet radiation induced production of MGA, shinorine and porphyra-334. This finding supports involvement of the shikimic acid pathway in the biosynthesis of MAAs by this species.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.4086-4092
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• 2013

Mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) are UV-absorbing substances, and diverse marine organisms have the evolved the capacity to diminished the direct and indirect damaging effects of environmental ultraviolet radiation by synthesis and accumulation of MAAs. In this study, we manufactured a radiofrequency (RF) generation device and applied to microalgal culture. $0.35{\pm}0.05$ mHz of RF was supplied to culture vessel for Chlamydomonas sp. and samples were harvested at the designated time intervals (1, 0.5, 1 and 2 hr). MAAs biosynthetic genes, dehydroquinate synthase homolog (DHQS-like) and nonribosomal peptide synthetase homolog (NRPS-like), were cloned from Chlamydomonas sp. and their gene expressions under the RF exposure were analyzed using qRT-PCR. DHQS-like and NRPS-like gene expressions of Chlamydomonas sp. exposed to RF were increased 1.46 and 1.19 fold at 1 hr, respectively. These results means that DHQS-like and NRPS-like genes can be good biomarker candidates for diagnosis of MAAs biosynthesis in the Chlamydomonas sp.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.5393-5399
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• 2014

To examine the effects of a mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) mixture from microalgae, Chlamydomonas sp, on the anti-wrinkle activities, the expression levels of genes that are associated with skin aging, including type I procollagen, elastin and involucrin, were analyzed. Asterina 330+palythine (A+P) and shinorine+palythine (S+P) mixtures were purified from Chlamydomonas sp using the following steps: 80% methanolic extraction, column purification, and HPLC analysis. As a result of the MTT assay, A+P and S+P did not induce cellular cytotoxicity with up to 0.1 mg/mL of both MAAs. In addition, the treatment of UV-exposed fibroblasts with A+P (0.05 mg/mL) and S+P (0.01 mg/mL) increased the levels of the PCOLCE mRNAs by 2.7 and 3.6 fold compared to the control group, respectively, The levels of elastin gene expression were elevated 5.59 and 3.1 fold in the A+P and S+P treated (0.01 mg/mL) cells, respectively. In particular, at a concentration of 0.01 mg /mL, the A+P and S+P expression levels of Involucrin mRNAs were increased 3.5 and 2.5 fold in the UV-exposed cells compared to the control, respectively. In conclusion, the MAAs derived from Chlamydomonas sp can be utilized as functional cosmetic materials with anti-wrinkle effects on the skin.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.66-74
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• 2020

Marine algae contain a variety of substances, such as mycosporine-like amino acids, which can defend against UV irradiation. Among them, Porphyra-334 derived from Porphyra yezoensis is attracting attention as a novel active ingredient for anti-aging cosmetics because of its excellent anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, and wound-healing properties through promoting skin cell migration. In this study, a process using direct current (DC) for increasing the yield of large-scale purification of Porphyra-334 was developed. When DC was applied to obtain Porphyra-334 efficiently, the purification time was shortened by approximately 1/4 compared with the process wherein DC was not applied; moreover, the yield of purification was improved.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.439-441
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• 2002

Cyanobacteria are the dominant micro flora in rice-fields, contributing significantly to fertility as a natural biofertilizer. Recent studies show a continuous depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer, and the consequent increase in solar UV-B (280-315 nm) radiation reaching the Earth's surface. UV-B radiation causes reduction in growth, survival, protein content, heterocyst frequency and fixation of carbon and nitrogen in many cyanobacteria. UV -B induced bleaching of pigments, disassembly of phycobilisomal complexes, thymine dimer formation and alterations in membrane permeability have also been encounterd in a number of cyanobacteria. However, certain cyanobacteria produce photoprotective compounds such as water soluble colorless mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) and the lipid soluble yellow-brown colored sheath pigment, scytonemin, to counteract the damaging effects of UV-B. Cyanobacteria, such as Anabaena sp., Nostoc commune, Scytonema sp. and Lyngbya sp. were isolated from rice fields and other habitats in India and screened for the presence of photoprotective compounds. A circadian induction of the synthesis of MAAs by UV -B was noted in a number of cyanobacteria. Polychromatic action spectra for the induction of MAAs in Anabaena sp. and Nostoc commune also show the induction to be UV-B dependent peaking at 290 nm. Another photoprotective compound, scytonemin, with an absorption maximum at 386 nm (also absorbs at 300, 278, 252 and 212 nm), was detected in many cyanobacteria. In conclusion, a particular cyanobacterium having photoprotective compounds may be a potent candidate as biofertilizer for crop plants.