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Melatonin is a phylogenetically ancient molecule. It is ubiquitously present in almost all organisms from primitive photosynthetic bacteria to humans. Its original primary function is presumable to be that of an antioxidant with other functions of this molecule having been acquired during evolution. The synthetic pathway of melatonin in vertebrates has been extensively studied. It is common knowledge that serotonin is acetylated to form N-acetylserotonin by arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase (AANAT) or arylamine N-acetyltransferase (SNAT or NAT) and N-acetylserotonin is, subsequently, methylated to melatonin by N-acetylserotonin O-methyltransferase (ASMT; also known as hydroxyindole-O-methyltransferase, HIOMT). This is referred to as a classic melatonin synthetic pathway. Based on new evidence, we feel that this classic melatonin pathway is not generally the prevailing route of melatonin production. An alternate pathway is known to exist, in which serotonin is first O-methylated to 5-methoxytryptamine (5-MT) and, thereafter, 5-MT is N-acetylated to melatonin. Here, we hypothesize that the alternate melatonin synthetic pathway may be more important in certain organisms and under certain conditions. Evidence strongly supports that this alternate pathway prevails in some plants, bacteria, and, perhaps, yeast and may also occur in animals., (© 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Melatonin seems to be an almost ubiquitous substance, which has been detected not only in metazoans, but also in all major non-metazoan taxa investigated, including bacteria, dinoflagellates, euglenoids, trypanosomids, fungi, rhodophyceans, pheophyceans, chlorophyceans and angiosperms. Despite its vast abundance, little is known to date about its functions. Its presence is not necessarily associated with circadian rhythmicity, which is evident in yeast. Circadian rhythms of melatonin have been reported in non-metazoans only for several unicellular organisms and in one angiosperm. In dinoflagellates, which have been studied in the most detail, the effects on enzyme activities and on phase shifting are known, but the most spectacular actions concerning the stimulation of bioluminescence, changes in cytoplasmic pH and induction of resting stages, can be related to a metabolite of melatonin, the 5-methoxytryptamine; therefore, melatonin should also be considered as a source of other agonists.

At a temperature of 15 degrees C, Gonyaulax polyedra responds to short days (light less than or equal to 10 h) by transition to the stage of a resting cyst. At 20 degrees C, even an light:dark (LD) cycle of 6:18 is incapable of inducing this process. In otherwise cyst-inducing conditions (15 degrees C; 10 h of light per day), an interruption of the scotophase by 2 h of light (LDLD 8:2:2:12 or 2:2:8:12) prevented encystment. Cyst induction is, therefore, initiated by a photoperiodic mechanism rather than by light deficiency. In Gonyaulax, photoperiodism may be mediated by the action of indoleamines. Melatonin, which exhibits a circadian rhythmicity in this organism, leads to encystment when given 1 h before lights-off in LD 11:13 at 15 degrees C, i.e., under otherwise noninducing conditions. Again, at 20 degrees C, melatonin is inefficient. Some analogues of melatonin, in particular, 5-methoxytryptamine and N,N-dimethyl-5-methoxytryptamine, and, at high concentrations, their respective precursors, serotonin and bufotenin, are capable of inducing cyst formation at 20 degrees C and in LD 12:12, whereas N-acetyl-serotonin does not show this effect.

Mediation of photoperiodic effects by indoleamines, especially melatonin, is known in higher vertebrates. A similar mechanism may occur in a unicellular alga, the dinoflagellate Gonyaulax polyedra. This organism entered the dormant stage of a cyst upon short-day treatment at lowered temperatures. Interruption of darkness by 2 hours of light prevented cyst formation, even when the overall duration of light was the same as in cyst-inducing short days. When given in a noninducing photoperiod, melatonin and an analog, 5-methoxytryptamine, substances that had previously been shown to occur in Gonyaulax, provoked cyst formation. Methoxylated indoleamines may play a role as mediators of darkness in this unicellular, in a similar way as in vertebrates, suggesting a common biochemical basis of photoperiodism.

The bioluminescent dinoflagellate Gonyaulax polyedra contains various indoleamines, in particular, melatonin and 5-methoxytryptamine, as well as enzymes of their biosynthetic pathway. Melatonin exhibits a high-amplitude circadian rhythm characterized by a dramatic increase shortly after the onset of darkness. The maximum of melatonin is followed by a peak of 5-methoxytryptamine. These 5-methoxylated indoleamines seem to be involved in the mediation of the information 'darkness'. G. polyedra shows a short-day response, which consists in the formation of asexual cysts. Light break experiments demonstrate the photoperiodic nature of this reaction. Cells become sensitive to short days only upon exposure to a lowered temperature (<16°C). Melatonin mimics the short-day effect, but only at decreased temperature. 5-Methoxytryptamine is even a better inducer of cyst formation, acting also at 20°C and in any lighting schedule, including LL. Cyst induction is associated with stimulation of bioluminescence and cytoplasmic acidification. A model on the intracellular pathway of photoperiodic information transduction assumes increased deacetylation of melatonin under cyst-inducing conditions, binding of 5-methoxytryptamine to the membrane of an acidic vacuole, proton transfer to the cytoplasm, and decreased intracellular pH as the stimulus for encystment. Melatonin shows the property of a scavenger of superoxide anions. This reaction, which is efficiently catalyzed by hemin, leads to the formation of a substituted kynuramine (AFMK). Destruction of melatonin by light-induced superoxide anions in the presence of cellular hemin may represent a property which, during evolution, has made this molecule suitable as an indicator of darkness. On the other hand, AFMK, which is formed under illumination, might have become a mediator of the information 'light'. Photoperiodism in Gonyaulax shows surprising parallels to that in mammals, but allows the analysis of this phenomenon at an entirely cellular level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encystment, which at a temperature of 15°C is photoperiodically controlled in Gonyaulax polyedra, can also be induced by a decrease of temperature, from 20 to 10 or 8°C in the absence of photoperiodic signals. The cyst-inducing capacity of the decrease in temperature depends on the circadian phase: in constant light, the maximum of sensitivity was found at the beginning of subjective night. In a light/dark cycle, however, cyst formation was reduced during dark phase, indicating that light is required for the process of encystment. A similar light dependence was seen in the effect of the physiologically occurring cyst inducer 5-methoxytryptamine, but not in the encystment response to the protonophores monensin and nigericin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]