Response of two cyanobacterial strains to non-biodegradable glitter particles.

Microplastic pollution is a growing concern mainly in aquatic environments due to its deleterious effects. Some types of microplastics, such as glitter, remain overlooked. Glitter particles are artificial reflective microplastics used by different consumers within arts and handcraft products.

Resolving Confusion Surrounding d-Ala-d-Ala Ligase Catalysis in Cyanobacterial Mycosporine-Like Amino Acid (MAA) Biosynthesis.

Mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) are natural UV-absorbing sunscreens that evolved in cyanobacteria and algae to palliate harmful effects from obligatory exposure to solar radiation. Multiple lines of evidence prove that in cyanobacteria all MAAs are derived from mycosporine-glycine, which is typically modified by an ATP-dependent ligase encoded by the gene mysD. The function of the mysD ligase has been experimentally described but haphazardly named based solely upon sequence similarity to the d-alanine-d-alanine ligase of bacterial peptidoglycan biosynthesis.

Exploring the Relationship between Biosynthetic Gene Clusters and Constitutive Production of Mycosporine-like Amino Acids in Brazilian Cyanobacteria.

Cyanobacteria are oxygenic phototrophic prokaryotes that have evolved to produce ultraviolet-screening mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) to lessen harmful effects from obligatory exposure to solar UV radiation. The cyanobacterial MAA biosynthetic cluster is formed by a gene encoding 2--5--valiolone synthase (EVS) located immediately upstream from an methyltransferase (OMT) encoding gene, which together biosynthesize the expected MAA precursor 4-deoxygadusol. Accordingly, these genes are typically absent in non-producers.

Trends in Free-access Genomic Data Accelerate Advances in Cyanobacteria Taxonomy.

Free access databases of DNA sequences containing microbial genetic information have changed the way scientists look at the microbial world. Currently, the NCBI database includes about 516 distinct search results for Cyanobacterial genomes distributed in a taxonomy based on a polyphasic approach. While their classification and taxonomic relationships are widely used as is, recent proposals to alter their grouping include further exploring the relationship between Cyanobacteria and Melainabacteria.