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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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