Ubiquity and quantitative significance of detoxification catabolism of chlorophyll associated with protistan herbivory.

Chlorophylls are essential components of the photosynthetic apparati that sustain all of the life forms that ultimately depend on solar energy. However, a drawback of the extraordinary photosensitizing efficiency of certain chlorophyll species is their ability to generate harmful singlet oxygen. Recent studies have clarified the catabolic processes involved in the detoxification of chlorophylls in land plants, but little is understood about these strategies in aquatic ecosystem. Here, we report that a variety of heterotrophic protists accumulate the chlorophyll a catabolite 13(2),17(3)-cyclopheophorbide a enol (cPPB-aE) after their ingestion of algae. This chlorophyll derivative is nonfluorescent in solution, and its inability to generate singlet oxygen in vitro qualifies it as a detoxified catabolite of chlorophyll a. Using a modified analytical method, we show that cPPB-aE is ubiquitous in aquatic environments, and it is often the major chlorophyll a derivative. Our findings suggest that cPPB-aE metabolism is one of the most important, widely distributed processes in aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, the herbivorous protists that convert chlorophyll a to cPPB-aE are suggested to play more significant roles in the modern oceanic carbon flux than was previously recognized, critically linking microscopic primary producers to the macroscopic food web and carbon sequestration in the ocean.

2-Ethyl-3-methylmaleimide in Tokyo Bay sediments providing the first evidence for its formation from chlorophylls in the present photic and oxygenic zone.

Tokyo Bay bottom sediments were analyzed for 2-ethyl-3-methylmaleimide, a degradation product of chlorophylls, which has been detected in ancient sediments. It was found in all sediments examined in concentrations of about 1 to 15 nmol/g- of dried sediment, and it was shown to be preserved for 100 years in the sediments. Its depth distribution agreed with that of the reported total organic carbon content of the sediments, reflecting a change in primary productivity. We concluded that this maleimide was produced under photic and oxygenic conditions in nature before the incorporation of photosynthesizing organisms into sediments.

A new pathway to aspartic acid from urea and maleic acid affected by ultraviolet light.

The photochemistry of a mixture of urea and maleic acid, which are thought to have been widely present on the primitive Earth, was studied in order to examine a possibility of the formation of amino acids. When an aqueous solution of urea and maleic acid was irradiated with an ultraviolet light of wavelength 172 nm, urea was revealed to be rather resistant to photochemical decomposition. In contrast, maleic acid was completely decomposed within 4 h, reflecting the reactivity of a C-C double bond in the molecule. In the reaction mixture, 2-isoureidosuccinic acid was detected. The acid was considered to be formed by addition of an isoureido radical which had been produced from urea by the action of a hydroxyl radical, to a C-C double bond of maleic acid. The isoureido group of the product was revealed to undergo thermal rearrangement to afford 2-ureidosuccinic acid (N-carbamoylaspartic acid). The result suggested a novel pathway leading to the formation of aspartic acid from non-amino acid precursors, possibly effected by UV-light on the primitive Earth. The formation of ureidocarboxylic acids is of another significance, since they are capable of undergoing thermal polymerization, resulting in formation of polyamino acids.