In cyanobacteria such as Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, large antenna complexes called phycobilisomes (PBS) harvest light and transfer the energy to the photosynthetic reaction centers. Modification of the light harvesting machinery in cyanobacteria has widespread consequences, causing changes in cell morphology and physiology. In the current study, we investigated the effects of PBS truncation on...

ORF slr0798, now designated ziaA, from Synechocystis PCC 6803 encodes a polypeptide with sequence features of heavy metal transporting P-type ATPases. Increased Zn2+ tolerance and reduced 65Zn accumulation was observed in Synechococcus PCC 7942, strain R2-PIM8(smt), containing ziaA and upstream regulatory sequences, compared with control cells. Conversely, reduced Zn2+ tolerance was observed fo...

Cyanobacteria have a thylakoid lipid composition very similar to that of plant chloroplasts, yet cyanobacteria are proposed to synthesize monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG), a major membrane polar lipid in photosynthetic membranes, by a different pathway. In addition, plant MGDG synthase has been cloned, but no ortholog has been reported in cyanobacterial genomes. We report here identification...

The transfer of fatty acids across biological membranes is a largely uncharacterized process, although it is essential at membranes of several higher plant organelles like chloroplasts, peroxisomes, or the endoplasmic reticulum. Here, we analyzed loss-of-function mutants of the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 as a model system to circumvent redundancy problems encountered ...

Palmitoleic acid (C16:1) and stearic acid (C18:0) are precursors of polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are the focus of intensive global research due to their nutritional value, medicinal applications, and potential use as biofuel. Acyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) thioesterases are intraplastidial enzymes that determine the types and amounts of fatty acids produced in plants and release fatty ac...

The small heat shock proteins (sHSPs) are ubiquitous stress proteins proposed to act as molecular chaperones to prevent irreversible protein denaturation. We characterized the chaperone activity of Synechocystis HSP17 and found that it has not only protein-protective activity, but also a previously unrecognized ability to stabilize lipid membranes. Like other sHSPs, recombinant Synechocystis HS...

Succinate produced by microorganisms can replace currently used petroleum-based succinate but typically requires mono- or poly-saccharides as a feedstock. The cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 can produce organic acids such as succinate from CO2 not supplemented with sugars under dark anoxic conditions using an unknown metabolic pathway. The TCA cycle in cyanobacteria branches into oxida...

Pyruvate:ferredoxin (flavodoxin) oxidoreductase (PFO, EC 1.2.7.1) catalyses the oxidative cleavage of pyruvate and coenzyme A to acetylcoenzyme A and CO2 with the simultaneous reduction of ferredoxin or flavodoxin. PFO occurs in anaerobes and in some aerobic archaea and bacteria. For cyanobacteria, activity measurements indicated the occurrence of PFO in heterocystous forms. The completely sequ...

Glutamine synthetase (GS) type I is a key enzyme in nitrogen metabolism, and its activity is finely controlled by cellular carbon/nitrogen balance. In cyanobacteria, a reversible process that involves protein-protein interaction with two proteins, the inactivating factors IF7 and IF17, regulates GS. Previously, we showed that three arginine residues of IFs are critical for binding and inhibitio...

Iron is an essential component in many protein complexes involved in photosynthesis, but environmental iron availability is often low as oxidized forms of iron are insoluble in water. To adjust to low environmental iron levels, cyanobacteria undergo numerous changes to balance their iron budget and mitigate the physiological effects of iron depletion. We investigated changes in key protein abun...