Regulation In Cyanobacteria Research Articles

NtcA represses transcription of gifA and gifB, genes that encode inhibitors of glutamine synthetase type I from Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.

Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 glutamine synthetase type I (GS) activity is controlled by direct interaction with two inactivating factors (IF7 and IF17). IF7 and IF17 are homologous polypeptides encoded by the gifA and gifB genes respectively. We investigated the transcriptional regulation of these genes. Expression of both genes is maximum in the presence of ammonium, when GS is inactivated. Nitrogen starvation attenuates the ammonium-mediated induction of gifA and gifB as well as the ammonium-mediated inactivation of GS. Putative binding sites for the transcription factor NtcA were identified at -7.5 and -30.5 bp upstream of gifB and gifA transcription start points respectively. Synechocystis NtcA protein binding to both promoters was demonstrated by gel electrophoresis mobility shift assays. Constitutive high expression levels of both genes were found in a Synechocystis NtcA non-segregated mutant (SNC1), which showed a fourfold reduction in the ntcA expression. These experiments indicate a repressive role for NtcA on the transcription of gifA and gifB genes. Our results demonstrate that NtcA plays a central role in GS regulation in cyanobacteria, stimulating transcription of the glnA gene (GS structural gene) and suppressing transcription of the GS inactivating factor genes gifA and gifB.

The effect of variations in irradiance on buoyancy regulation in Microcystis aeruginosa

A mechanism of buoyancy regulation in cyanobacteria was investigated in a fluctuating light environment typical of the mixed layer in a lake. New measurements of density and cellular carbohydrate content were obtained from a field sample of the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa. The rate of increase in carbohydrate and density in this cyanobacterium does not instantaneously adjust to an increase in light intensity. There is a time lag, the response time, corresponding to physiological adjustment to the increase in light, before equilibration of the rate of carbohydrate and density increase. Also, the rate of density and carbohydrate increase is nonlinear over the response time. Based on these experimental findings, a new model for buoyancy regulation was developed that includes the response time. This model was applied to two fluctuating light regimes that simulate Langmuir circulation and turbulence. The simulations reveal that the response time is critical in determining if a cell equilibrates its rate of density change to a change in the light that it receives. If the response time is longer than the time scale of the light fluctuation, then the rate of density increase will be less than the optimal equilibrium rate. Models that do not include the response time will not correctly predict the buoyancy of cyanobacteria and their water column position after an episode of mixing.

N2 fixation in marine heterotrophic bacteria: dynamics of environmental and molecular regulation.

Molecular and immunological techniques were used to examine N2 fixation in a ubiquitous heterotrophic marine bacterium, the facultative anaerobic Vibrio natriegens. When batch cultures were shifted from aerobic N-replete to anaerobic N-deplete conditions, transcriptional and post-translational regulation of N2 fixation was observed. Levels of nifHDK mRNA encoding the nitrogenase enzyme were highest at 140 min postshift and undetectable between 6 and 9 h later. Immunologically determined levels of nitrogenase enzyme (Fe protein) were highest between 6 and 15 h postshift, and nitrogenase activity peaked between 6 and 9 h postshift, declining by a factor of 2 after 12-15 h. Unlike their regulation in cyanobacteria, Fe protein and nitrogenase activity were present when nifHDK mRNA was absent in V. natriegens, indicating that nitrogenase is stored and stable under anaerobic conditions. Both nifHDK mRNA and Fe protein disappeared within 40 min after cultures were shifted from N2-fixing conditions (anaerobic, N-deplete) to non- N2-fixing conditions (aerobic, N-enriched) but reappeared when shifted to conditions favoring N2 fixation. Thus, unlike other N2-fixing heterotrophic bacteria, nitrogenase must be resynthesized after aerobic exposure in V. natriegens. Immunological detection based on immunoblot (Western) analysis and immunogold labeling correlated positively with nitrogenase activity; no localization of nitrogenase was observed. Because V. natriegens continues to fix N2 for many hours after anaerobic induction, this species may play an important role in providing "new" nitrogen in marine ecosystems.

Amino acid biosynthesis and its regulation in cyanobacteria

Most of our knowledge of amino acid biosynthesis is implied from elegant studies on the biochemistry and molecular biology of bacterial amino acid biosynthesis. So far all this work deals with heterotrophic organisms completely dependent on their nutritional environment. Some researchers have therefore focused their attention on the problem, what happens to the regulation of a biosynthetic pathway during evolution to autotrophic growth. In cyanobacteria, there are few examples of metabolic controls by repression and de-repression of enzyme biosynthesis of the kind that are well documented for other microorganisms. In contrast, several cases have been reported demonstrating enzymic control by allosteric alterations. Many of the enzymes suspected to be involved in amino acid metabolism in cyanobacteria have not been isolated or characterized. Consequently, little is known of the molecular biology of these enzymes. This review will give a survey of information pertinent to study of amino acid biosynthesis and its regulation in cyanobacteria.