Inferred ancestry of scytonemin biosynthesis proteins in cyanobacteria indicates a response to Paleoproterozoic oxygenation.

ABSTRACT: Protection from radiation damage is an important adaptation for phototrophic microbes. Living in surface, shallow water, and peritidal environments, cyanobacteria are especially exposed to long-wavelength ultraviolet (UVA) radiation. Several groups of cyanobacteria within these environments are protected from UVA damage by the production of the pigment scytonemin. Paleontological evidence of cyanobacteria in UVA-exposed environments from the Proterozoic, and possibly as early as the Archaean, suggests a long evolutionary history of radiation protection within this group. We show that phylogenetic analyses of enzymes in the scytonemin biosynthesis pathway support this hypothesis and reveal a deep history of vertical inheritance of this pathway within extant cyanobacterial diversity. Referen

SUBMITTER: Tamre E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9796282 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature