Journal
ASTROBIOLOGY
Volume 10, Issue 8, Pages 783-788Publisher
MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC
DOI: 10.1089/ast.2009.0407
Keywords
Nostoc sp.; UVB; Raman spectra; beta-carotene
Funding
- Natural Science Foundation of China [30400093, 30970688]
- National Major Programs of Water Body Pollution Control and Remediation [2008ZX07105-005]
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Cyanobacteria are capable of tolerating environmental extremes. To survive in extreme environments, cyanobacteria have developed the capability to adapt to a variety of stresses. For example, cyanobacteria have adopted a number of strategies with which to survive UV stress, including expression of UV-screening pigments and antioxidant systems. We have previously shown that several antioxidants are significantly expressed in Nostoc sp. by UVB irradiation. We report here that the content of UV-responsive biomarkers such as beta-carotene and scytonemin can be easily detected by Fourier transform Raman spectroscopy with use of a small sample size and that the content of beta-carotene is dependant on the UVB intensity and exposure time. Our results indicate that Raman spectroscopy may be a helpful tool to analyze UV-protective molecules of cyanobacterium in astrobiological studies without access to large sample sizes and complicated extractions, which are needed by other analytical techniques such as high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry.
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