New pigments from the terrestrial cyanobacterium Scytonema sp. collected on the Mitaraka inselberg, French Guyana.

Valérie Bultel-Poncé (1) , Fabienne Felix-Theodose (1) , Corinne Sarthou (2) , Jean-François Ponge (2) , Bernard Bodo (1)

1 Laboratoire de chimie et biochimie des substances naturelles
2 ECOTROP - Fonctionnement, évolution et mécanismes régulateurs des écosystèmes forestiers

Inselbergs are hills rising abruptly from the surrounding plains where cyanobacteria are the only living organisms under conditions of intense solar radiation. A survival mechanism to prevent UV-damage has been associated with synthesis of the ultraviolet-screening, photostable sheath pigment scytonemin. The organic extract of Scytonema sp., collected on the Mitaraka inselberg, French Guyana, yielded three new pigments, tetramethoxyscytonemin (1), dimethoxyscytonemin (2), and scytonine (3), derived from the scytoneman skeleton of scytonemin. These structures were assigned mainly on the basis of (1)H and (13)C NMR and MS experiments.

Domaines: Science des sols

Valérie Bultel-Poncé, Fabienne Felix-Theodose, Corinne Sarthou, Jean-François Ponge, Bernard Bodo. New pigments from the terrestrial cyanobacterium Scytonema sp. collected on the Mitaraka inselberg, French Guyana.. Journal of Natural Products, 2004, 67 (4), pp.678-681. ⟨10.1021/np034031u⟩. ⟨hal-00367057v1⟩