Project description:The cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa PCC 7806 was used for a systematic survey of the relationship between copper and microcystins synthesis. Here we have used microarrays to interrogate the global responses to copper additions at 0.5 micromolar (µM) and 3 µM of copper. From the gene level, microarray studies (3 µM copper supplementation) showed effects on iron, sulfur, glutaredoxin and dehydratase homeostasis gene expression. However, in 0.5 µM groups, those genes that significantly enriched in 3 µM groups regulatory were not all found. In the microarray data for copper stress (3 µM) revealed a broad effect on the expression of iron-sulphur cluster associated pathways, such as cysteine biosynthesis. All of these data indicate that Fe / S cluster biogenesis and/or repair were affected by copper in M. aeruginosa.