Project description:The rpoZ gene encodes the small ω subunit of RNA polymerase (RNAP). A ∆rpoZ strain of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 grew well in standard conditions (constant illumination at 40 µmol photons m-2s-1; 32 °C; ambient CO2) but was heat sensitive and died at 40 °C. In the control strain , 71 genes were at least two-fold up-regulated and 91 genes down-regulated after a 24-h treatment at 40 °C, while in ∆rpoZ 394 genes responded to heat. Only 62 of these heat-responsive genes were similarly regulated in both strains, and 80 % of heat-responsive genes were unique for ΔrpoZ. The RNAP core and the primary σ factor SigA were down-regulated in control strain at 40 °C, but not in ΔrpoZ. In accordance with reduced RNAP content, the total RNA content of mild-heat-stress-treated cells was lower in control strain than in ΔrpoZ. Light-saturated photosynthetic activity decreased more in ΔrpoZ than in control strain upon mild heat stress. The amounts of Photosystem II and Rubisco decreased at 40 °C in both strains while PSI and the phycobilisome antenna protein allophycocyanin remained at the same level as in standard conditions. The phycobilisome rod proteins, phycocyanins, diminished during the heat treatment in ΔrpoZ but not in control strain, and the nblA1 and nblA2 genes (encode NblA proteins required for phycobilisome degradation) were up-regulated only in ΔrpoZ. Our results show that the ω subunit of RNAP is essential in heat stress because it is required for heat acclimation of diverse cellular processes.
Project description:The gene sml0013 of Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 encodes for a novel subunit of the NDH1 complex that is ubiquitous distributed among cyanobacteria.
Project description:The responses of the transcriptome were monitored in Synechocysis PCC 6803 during a linear rate of evaporation of the culture to dryness (desiccation). For each time point, total RNA were isolated from stressed and unstressed cells, reverse-transcribed, differentially labelled (dye swapped), hybridized together (stressed versus unstressed samples) and analyzed with DNA glass microarrays (two slides per each time point) (Custom-commercial array : CyanoCHIP version 2.0, TAKARA). To identify differentially expressed genes, the median of the normalized ratio of Cy5/Cy3 intensity was calculated for each spot of the replicated dye-swap. The results of the analysis were carefully examined to exclude the dye effect between the 2 Cy-swapped arrays. Keywords: Dehydration, stress response, time course, transcription, cyanobacteria
Project description:Ethylene is a gaseous signal sensed by plants and bacteria. Heterologous expression of the ethylene-forming enzyme (EFE) from Pseudomonas syringae in cyanobacteria leads to the production of ethylene under photoautotrophic conditions. The recent characterization of an ethylene responsive signaling pathway affecting phototaxis in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 implies that biotechnologically relevant ethylene synthesis may induce regulatory processes which are not related to changes in the metabolism. Here we provide data that endogenously produced ethylene accelerates movement of cells towards light. Microarray analysis demonstrates that ethylene deactivates transcription from the csiR1/lsiR promoter which is under control of the two-component system consisting of the ethylene and UV-A-sensing histidine kinase UirS and the DNA-binding response regulator UirR. Surprisingly, only very few other transcriptional changes were detected in the microarray analysis providing no direct hints to possible bottlenecks in phototrophic ethylene production.
Project description:In cyanobacteria DNA supercoiling varies over the diurnal light/dark cycle and is integrated with temporal programs of transcription and replication. We manipulated DNA supercoiling in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 by CRISPRi-based knockdown of gyrase subunits gyrA, gyrB and overexpression of topoisomerase I (TopoI) topA and analyzed the transcriptional response to gyrase knock-downs (endpoint in triplicate) and topoisomerase I overexpression (endpoint in triplicate, and 19 time points time series before and after induction) in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 via RNA-seq of coding RNA. In detail, Illumina Ribo-Zero Plus rRNA Depletion Kit was used to remove the ribosomal RNA molecules from the isolated total RNA. Removal of rRNA was evaluated with the RNA Pico 6000 kit on the Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer. RNA was free of detectable rRNA. Preparation of cDNA libraries was performed according to the manufacturer’s instructions for the TruSeq stranded mRNA kit (Illumina, San Diego, CA, United States). Subsequently, each cDNA library was sequenced on an Illumina NextSeq 500 system (2 x 75 nt PE high output v2.5).