Sulfoquinovose metabolism in marine algae

his study aimed to survey algal model organ-isms, covering phylogenetically representative and ecologically relevant taxa. Reports about the occurrence of sulfonates (particularly sulfoquinovose, taurine, and ise-thionate) in marine algae are scarce, and their likely relevance in global biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem functioning is poorly known. Using both field-collected seaweeds from NW Scotland and cultured strains, a com-bination of enzyme assays, high-performance liquid chromatography and matrix-assisted laser-desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry was used to detect key sulfonates in algal extracts. This was complemented by bioinformatics, mining the publicly available genome sequences of algal models. The results confirm the wide-spread presence of sulfonates and their biosynthetic path-ways in macro- and microalgae. However, it is also clear that catabolic pathways, if present, must be different from those documented from the bacterial systems since no complete cluster of gene homologues of key genes could be detected in algal genomes