Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10316/3852
Title: To be or not to be a compatible solute: Bioversatility of mannosylglycerate and glucosylglycerate
Authors: Empadinhas, Nuno 
Costa, Milton S. da 
Keywords: Compatible solutes; Mannosylglycerate; Glucosylglycerate; Biosynthesis
Issue Date: 2008
Citation: Systematic and Applied Microbiology. 31:3 (2008) 159-168
Abstract: Mannosylglycerate (MG) is an intracellular organic solute found in some red algae, and several thermophilic bacteria and hyperthermophilic archaea. Glucosylglycerate (GG) was identified at the reducing end of a polysaccharide from mycobacteria and in a free form in a very few mesophilic bacteria and halophilic archaea. MG has a genuine role in the osmoadaptation and possibly in thermal protection of many hyper/thermophilic bacteria and archaea, but its role in red algae, where it was identified long before hyperthermophiles were even known to exist, remains to be clarified. The GG-containing polysaccharide was initially detected in Mycobacterium phlei and found to regulate fatty acid synthesis. More recently, GG has been found to be a major compatible solute under salt stress and nitrogen starvation in a few microorganisms. This review summarizes the occurrence and physiology of MG accumulation, as well as the distribution of GG, as a free solute or associated with larger macromolecules. We also focus on the recently identified pathways for the synthesis of both molecules, which were elucidated by studying hyper/thermophilic MG-accumulating organisms. The blooming era of genomics has now allowed the detection of these genes in fungi and mosses, opening a research avenue that spans the three domains of life, into the role of these two sugar derivatives.
URI: https://hdl.handle.net/10316/3852
DOI: 10.1016/j.syapm.2008.05.002
Rights: openAccess
Appears in Collections:FCTUC Ciências da Vida - Artigos em Revistas Internacionais

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