Abstract
Enteromorpha compressa is a euryhaline organism, capable of growing with a wide range of salinity. When we transferred E.compressa to a hyper saline medium, DMSP was significantly accumulated. DMSP, which is reported to be accumulated in limited species of marine algae and higher plants, is the only major compatible solute in E.compressa. The aim of this study is to investigate the metabolic regulation of DMSP biosynthesis in E.compressa for the environmental adaptation.
We fed the 35S- or 14C- labeled precursor of DMSP to E.compressa, and examined the labeled metabolites. The activity of DMSP biosynthesis from [35S]-SO42- and [35S]-cysteine were increased, on the other hand, the activity from [14C]-methionine remained constant. The obtained results suggest that the biosynthesis of DMSP in salt-treated E.compressa is regulated by the supply of methionine.
