The Taurine Biosynthetic Pathway of Microalgae

Authors

Rahul Tevatia, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
James Allen, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Deepak Rudrappa, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Derrick White, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Thomas E. Clemente, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Heriberto Cerutti, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Yaşar Demirel, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Paul H. Blum, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

ORCID IDs

Rahul Tevatia

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2015

Citation

Algal Research 9 (2015), pp. 21–26.

doi: 10.1016/j.algal.2015.02.012

Comments

Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. Used by permission.

Supplementary material is provided below.

Abstract

Taurine (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid) is an amino acid–like compound widely distributed in animals and an essential nutrient in some species. Targeted metabolomics of marine and freshwater microalgae combined with medium supplementation identified biosynthetic pathway intermediates and necessary catalytic activities. Genomic analysis was then used to predict the first taurine biosynthetic pathway in these organisms. MRM-based electrospray ionization (ESI) LC–MS/MS analysis demonstrated that taurine is synthesized using a carbon backbone from L-serine combined with sulfur derived from sulfate. Metabolite analysis showed a nonuniform pattern in levels of pathway intermediates that were both species and supplement dependent. While increased culture salinity raised taurine levels modestly in marine alga, taurine levels were strongly induced in a freshwater species implicating taurine as an organic osmolyte. Conservation of the synthetic pathway in algae and metazoans together with a pattern of intermittent distribution in other lineages suggests that it arose early in eukaryotic evolution. Elevated levels of cell-associated taurine in algae could offer a new and biorenewable source of this unusual bioactive compound.