Additional analysis of cyanobacterial polyamines

─ Distributions of spermidine, homospermidine, spermine, and thermospermine within the phylum Cyanobacteria ─

Abstract

To further catalogue the distribution of cyanobacterial cellular polyamines, we used HPLC and HPGC to newly analyze the acid-extracted polyamines from 14 cyanobacteria. The colony-forming Nostoc verrucosum (“Ashitsuki”) and Nostoc commune (“Ishikurage”), as well as Anabaena species (Nostocales), contained homospermidine. The thermo-halotolerant Spirulina subsalsa var. salina (Spirulinales), as well as freshwater Spirulina strains, contained spermidine. Putrescine, spermidine, and homospermidine were found in freshwater colony-forming Aphanothece sacrum (“Suizenji-nori”), whereas the halotolerant Aphanothece halophytica and Microcystis species (Chroococcales) contained spermidine alone. In addition to putrescine, spermidine, homospermidine and agmatine, thermospermine was found as a major polyamine in haloalkaliphilic Arthrospira platensis (“Spirulina”) (Oscillatoriales). In the Synechococcales, chlorophyll b-containing Prochlorococcus marina contained spermidine, and chlorophyll d-containing Acaryochloris marina contained spermidine and homospermidine. Thermophilic Thermosynechococcus vulcanus and Thermosynechococcus sp. NK55a, as well as Thermosynechococcus elongatus, contained low levels of spermine in addition to homospermidine. The present 14 and previous 126 strains of cyanobacteria were categorized into spermidine-dominant types, homospermidine-dominant types and spermidine-homospermidine-mix types, but their polyamine profiles have not yet been established as chemotaxonomic markers.