Mycosporines Protect From UV Light, Desiccation

bright scarlet fungus grows on a tree trunk covered in moss in a wooded area

Biological Strategy

Ascomycota

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Protect From Loss of Liquids

Water is essential to life. Liquids, mostly water, make up 70 to 90% of all living systems, and the loss of even a small percentage can mean the difference between life and death. Living systems must maintain a proper liquid balance, which is especially difficult in dry conditions. To do so, they must control the movement of liquids across their boundaries. Living systems do this using structures or waterproof materials to prevent or slow liquid movement. For example, when humans receive a cut, they must limit blood loss. Scattered throughout the bloodstream are lens-shaped structures that serve to plug the wound.

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Protect From Light

Access to sunlight is crucial to living systems because it’s the primary energy source for life. However, too much sunlight in the form of ultraviolet radiation (UV) can cause damage to living tissues. Therefore, living systems have strategies to filter out some or all UV radiation. For example, some plants that live in areas exposed to long periods of direct sunlight have reflective surfaces (such as white hairs or powder) that reflect UV light.

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Fungi

Kingdom Fungi: Mildews, molds, mushrooms, rusts, smuts, and yeasts

Once thought to be more closely related to plants, fungi have been found to contain chitin in their cell walls, indicating a closer evolutionary relationship to animals. Fungi are decomposers, using digestive enzymes to break down their surroundings, making them an essential part of ecosystems worldwide, as new soil is formed from rotting matter. Almost all fungi reproduce through spores (mushrooms, molds) or asexual budding (some yeast). There are estimated to be more than 2 million species, but only about 140,000 have been described. Fungi have great importance in culture, food, and medicine (including being the source of penicillin) worldwide.

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Microcolonial fungi are protected from UV light and desiccation via mycosporines.

“UV absorption of both mycosporines at 310 nm hints at their biological role as UV filters. However, it is believed that, in addition to UVR protection, mycosporines may also play an important role as antioxidants and osmoprotectants. The presence of at least two different mycosporines enhances the survival capabilities of MCF [microcolonial fungi] undergoing UVR and desiccation stress. However, it is also possible that mycosporine-glutaminol-glucoside and mycosporine-glutamicol-glucoside are internally converted within the fungal cell and thus have a biochemical precursor–product relationship.” (Volkmann et al. 2003:901)

Last Updated September 14, 2016

References

Journal article

Mycosporine-glutamicol-glucoside: A natural UV-absorbing secondary metabolite of rock-inhabiting microcolonial fungi

Volkmann, M.; Whitehead, K.; Ru?tters, H.; Rullko?tter, J.; Gorbushina, A. A.

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