The Origin of Teratogenic Retinoids in Cyanobacteria

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Authors

SEHNAL Luděk SMUTNÁ Marie BLÁHOVÁ Lucie BABICA Pavel ŠPLÍCHALOVÁ Petra HILSCHEROVÁ Klára

Year of publication 2022
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Toxins
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Science

Citation
Web https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6651/14/9/636
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins14090636
Keywords retinoids; cyanobacteria; reactive oxygen species; aldehyde dehydrogenases; biosynthesis
Attached files
Description Although information about the occurrence and distribution of retinoids in the environment is scarce, cyanobacterial water blooms have been identified as a significant source of these small molecules. Despite the confirmed presence of retinoids in the freshwater blooms dominated by cyanobacteria and their described teratogenic effects, reliable identification of retinoid producers and the mechanism of their biosynthesis is missing. In this study, the cultures of several taxonomically diverse species of axenic cyanobacteria were confirmed as significant producers of retinoid-like compounds. The consequent bioinformatic analysis suggested that the enzymatic background required for the biosynthesis of all-trans retinoic acid from retinal is not present across phylum Cyanobacteria. However, we demonstrated that retinal conversion into other retinoids can be mediated non-enzymatically by free radical oxidation, which leads to the production of retinoids widely detected in cyanobacteria and environmental water blooms, such as all-trans retinoic acid or all-trans 5,6epoxy retinoic acid. Importantly, the production of these metabolites by cyanobacteria in association with the mass development of water blooms can lead to adverse impacts in aquatic ecosystems regarding the described teratogenicity of retinoids. Moreover, our finding that retinal can be non-enzymatically converted into more bioactive retinoids, also in water, and out of the cells, increases the environmental significance of this process.
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