Enzyme discovery opens a new route to natural UV-absorbing saclipins

Ultraviolet (UV)-absorbing compounds from natural sources are attracting interest as potential ingredients for cosmetics and other protective materials. Saclipins A and B are unusual UV-absorbing oxylipins produced by the edible freshwater cyanobacterium Aphanothece sacrum, known in Japan as Suizenji-nori. Although these compounds show promising UV-absorbing and other functional properties, their low natural abundance and poorly understood biosynthesis have limited efforts to use them more broadly.