PUBLICATION
Gadusol is a maternally provided sunscreen that protects fish embryos from DNA damage
- Authors
- Rice, M.C., Little, J.H., Forrister, D.L., Machado, J., Clark, N.L., Gagnon, J.A.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-230628-47
- Date
- 2023
- Source
- Current biology : CB 33(15): 3229-3237.e4 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Gagnon, James, Rice, Marlen
- Keywords
- MAAs, development, environmental stress, evolution, gadusol, maternal effect, melanin, sunscreen, ultraviolet radiation, zebrafish
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- DNA Damage
- Melanins
- Sunscreening Agents*/chemistry
- Sunscreening Agents*/pharmacology
- Ultraviolet Rays*/adverse effects
- Zebrafish/genetics
- PubMed
- 37369210 Full text @ Curr. Biol.
Citation
Rice, M.C., Little, J.H., Forrister, D.L., Machado, J., Clark, N.L., Gagnon, J.A. (2023) Gadusol is a maternally provided sunscreen that protects fish embryos from DNA damage. Current biology : CB. 33(15):3229-3237.e4.
Abstract
Exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is harmful to living cells, leading organisms to evolve protective mechanisms against UVR-induced cellular damage and stress.1,2 UVR, particularly UVB (280-320 nm), can damage proteins and DNA, leading to errors during DNA repair and replication. Excessive UVR can induce cellular death. Aquatic organisms face risk of UV exposure as biologically harmful levels of UVB can penetrate >10 m in clear water.3 While melanin is the only known sunscreen in vertebrates, it often emerges late in embryonic development, rendering embryos of many species vulnerable during the earlier stages. Algae and microbes produce a class of sunscreening compounds known as mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs).4 Fish eggs contain a similar compound called gadusol, whose role as a sunscreen has yet to be tested despite its discovery over 40 years ago.5 The recent finding that many vertebrate genomes contain a biosynthetic pathway for gadusol suggests that many fish may produce and use this molecule as a sunscreen.6 We generated a gadusol-deficient mutant zebrafish to investigate the role of gadusol in protecting fish embryos and larvae from UVR. Our results demonstrate that maternally provided gadusol is the primary sunscreen in embryonic and larval development, while melanin provides modest secondary protection. The gadusol biosynthetic pathway is retained in the vast majority of teleost genomes but is repeatedly lost in species whose young are no longer exposed to UVR. Our data demonstrate that gadusol is a maternally provided sunscreen that is critical for early-life survival in the most species-rich branch of the vertebrate phylogeny.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping