UV-screening strategies of a lower eukaryote grown in hydrocarbon media

In this paper, a detailed analysis of the UV-screening strategies of the fungus Fusarium alkanophyllum is offered using spectroscopic (UV-VIS, FTIR), chromatographic (TLC, HPLC) and physiological analysis methods. Fusarium alkanophyllum showed an optimum growth when exposed to UV radiation at 253.7 (inducing DNA and protein damages) or 354.5 nm (inducing photoxidative damage) in several hydrocarbon media. Further, no ultrastructural difference was seen when cultures were or not irradiated with monochromatic UV. High absorbance between 200-300 nm of F. alkanophyllum indole derivatives, viz. melanin-type pigments, suggests a protector effect for proteins and nucleic acids. The presence of sulfur linked to aliphatic groups in hydrocarbons which is itself a strong UV absorber in the region of lambda < 270 nm can explain why mineral oil and kerosene showed high absorptivity at the UVC and UVB ranges. In light hydrocarbon, high absorptivities at the UVB and UVA spectral regions could be explained due to the presence of C=O stretching vibrations corresponding to ketones linked to aliphatic groups. The occurrence of indole derivatives in modern fungi may be a significant relic of the early evolution of microbial pigmentation. Likewise, it is thought that sulfur-enriched heterogeneous hydrocarbon environments could have occurred on the surface of the early Earth and could have absorbed and scattered UV-radiation avoiding or minimizing the damage produced on the biochemical machinery of early microorganisms able to metabolize those hydrocarbons.