| Summary: | The incidence of ultraviolet radiation has increased on the Earth's surface due to depletion of the stratospheric ozone
layer which has several detrimental effects on living organisms including cyanobacteria. Mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs)
are eco-friendly natural sun screening biomolecules having prominent photoprotective potentials. Our study provides the
identification and characterization of one of these MAAs from the cyanobacterium Scytonema sp. strain HKAR-16. The
identification and characterization of MAA palythine (λmax = 320 nm; m/z = 245.1) from this strain was performed using
ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) associated with photodiode array (PDA)
detector and electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) analyses. Further characterization was performed by Raman
spectroscopy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report regarding the presence of MAA palythine in Scytonema sp.
HKAR-16. Our results indicate that the cyanobacterium can protect itself by synthesizing MAA palythine in response to injurious
UV radiation. This naturally occurring photoprotective compound may have the potential to replace synthetic photoprotectants
that can be used by the humans.
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