Ecological and physiological roles of dimethylsulfoniopropionate and its products in marine macroalgae

Abstract

Dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) is among the most common natural products in marine organisms. It is found in microalgae (Lovelock et al. 1972; Kiene et al. 1996; Malin and Kirst 1997), macroalgae (Challenger and Simpson 1948; Reed 1983; Bischoff et al. 1994; Karsten et al. 1990, 1994; Van Alstyne et al. 2001b), invertebrates (Iida and Tokunaga 1986; Hill et al. 1995, 2000; Broadbent et al. 2002; Broadbent and Jones 2004; Jones and Trevena 2005; Van Alstyne et al. 2006b), and fish (Ackman and Hingley 1968; Ackman et al. 1972; Levasseur et al. 1994), as well as in many salt marsh (Dacey et al. 1987; Pakulski and Kiene 1992; Otte and Morris 1994) and terrestrial plants (Otte et al. 2004), often in high concentrations relative to other secondary metabolites. It is so common that one of the breakdown products of DMSP cleavage, dimethylsulfide (DMS), has been attributed with being responsible for the odor of the sea (White 1982); however, more concentrated DMS can have a less pleasant odor that is commonly associated with old or rotting shellfish and fish (Motohiro 1962; Brooke et al. 1968; Ackman et al. 1972; Levasseur et al. 1994).