scholarly journals Anabaena sp. Strain PCC 7120 hetY Gene Influences Heterocyst Development

2003 ◽  
Vol 185 (23) ◽  
pp. 6995-7000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ho-Sung Yoon ◽  
Martin H. Lee ◽  
Jin Xiong ◽  
James W. Golden

ABSTRACT The filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena (Nostoc) sp. strain PCC 7120 responds to starvation for fixed nitrogen by producing a semiregular pattern of nitrogen-fixing cells called heterocysts. Overexpression of the hetY gene partially suppressed heterocyst formation, resulting in an abnormal heterocyst pattern. Inactivation of hetY increased the time required for heterocyst maturation and caused defects in heterocyst morphology. The 489-bp hetY gene (alr2300), which is adjacent to patS (asl2301), encodes a protein that belongs to a conserved family of bacterial hypothetical proteins that contain an ATP-binding motif.

Microbiology ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 149 (11) ◽  
pp. 3257-3263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian-Hong Li ◽  
Sophie Laurent ◽  
Viren Konde ◽  
Sylvie Bédu ◽  
Cheng-Cai Zhang

In the filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120, a starvation of combined nitrogen induces differentiation of heterocysts, cells specialized in nitrogen fixation. How do filaments perceive the limitation of the source of combined nitrogen, and what determines the proportion of heterocysts? In cyanobacteria, 2-oxoglutarate provides a carbon skeleton for the incorporation of inorganic nitrogen. Recently, it has been proposed that the concentration of 2-oxoglutarate reflects the nitrogen status in cyanobacteria. To investigate the effect of 2-oxoglutarate on heterocyst development, a heterologous gene encoding a 2-oxoglutarate permease under the control of a regulated promoter was expressed in Anabaena sp. PCC 7120. The increase of 2-oxoglutarate within cells can trigger heterocyst differentiation in a subpopulation of filaments even in the presence of nitrate. In the absence of a source of combined nitrogen, it can increase heterocyst frequency, advance the timing of commitment to heterocyst development and further increase the proportion of heterocysts in a patS mutant. Here, it is proposed that the intracellular concentration of 2-oxoglutarate is involved in the determination of the proportion of the two cell types according to the carbon/nitrogen status of the filament.


2005 ◽  
Vol 187 (7) ◽  
pp. 2326-2331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha E. Ramírez ◽  
Pratibha B. Hebbar ◽  
Ruanbao Zhou ◽  
C. Peter Wolk ◽  
Stephanie E. Curtis

ABSTRACT In response to deprivation for fixed nitrogen, the filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 provides a microoxic intracellular environment for nitrogen fixation through the differentiation of semiregularly spaced vegetative cells into specialized cells called heterocysts. The devH gene is induced during heterocyst development and encodes a product with characteristics of a trans-acting regulatory protein. A devH mutant forms morphologically distinguishable heterocysts but is Fox−, incapable of nitrogen fixation in the presence of oxygen. We demonstrate that rearrangements of nitrogen fixation genes take place normally in the devH mutant and that it is Fix+, i.e., has nitrogenase activity under anoxic conditions. The Fox− phenotype was shown by ultrastructural studies to be associated with the absence of the glycolipid layer of the heterocyst envelope. The expression of glycolipid biosynthetic genes in the mutant is greatly reduced, and heterocyst glycolipids are undetectable.


2009 ◽  
Vol 191 (19) ◽  
pp. 6059-6066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jichan Jang ◽  
Lei Shi ◽  
Hui Tan ◽  
Annick Janicki ◽  
Cheng-Cai Zhang

ABSTRACT The filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 can form heterocysts for N2 fixation. Initiation of heterocyst differentiation depends on mutual regulation of ntcA and hetR. Control of hetR expression by NtcA is partially mediated by nrrA, but other factors must be involved in this regulation. Anabaena has two closely related PP2C-type protein phosphatases, PrpJ1 (formerly PrpJ) and PrpJ2; PrpJ1 is involved in heterocyst maturation. In this study, we show that PrpJ2, like PrpJ1, has Mn2+-dependent phosphatase activity. We further demonstrate that whereas prpJ2 is dispensable for cell growth under different nitrogen regimens tested, a double mutant with both prpJ1 and prpJ2 disrupted did not initiate heterocyst differentiation. Ectopic expression of hetR in the double mutant could rescue the failure to initiate heterocyst development, but the heterocysts formed, like those of a prpJ1 single mutant, were not mature. The expression of prpJ2 was enhanced during heterocyst development, and the upregulation of the gene was directly under the control of NtcA. Upregulation of both ntcA and hetR was affected in the double mutant. We propose that PrpJ1 and PrpJ2 together are required for mutual regulation of ntcA and hetR and are thus involved in regulation of the initiation of heterocyst differentiation.


Life ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 60 ◽  
Author(s):  
He Zhang ◽  
Xudong Xu

In the filamentous cyanobacterium, Anabaena sp. PCC 7120, single heterocysts differentiate at semi-regular intervals in response to nitrogen stepdown. HetR is a principal regulator of heterocyst differentiation, and hetP and hetZ are two genes that are regulated directly by HetR. In a hetR mutant generated from the IHB (Institute of Hydrobiology) substrain of PCC 7120, heterocyst formation can be restored by moderate expression of hetZ and hetP. The resulting heterocysts are located at terminal positions. We used a tandem promoter, PrbcLPpetE, to express hetZ and hetP strongly in the hetR mutant. Co-expression of hetZ and hetP enabled the hetR mutant to form multiple contiguous heterocysts at both terminal and intercalary positions. Expression of hetZ, alone resulted in terminally located heterocysts, whereas expression of hetP, alone produced enlarged cells in strings. In the absence of HetR, formation of heterocysts was insensitive to the peptide inhibitor, RGSGR.


2010 ◽  
Vol 192 (20) ◽  
pp. 5526-5533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rocío López-Igual ◽  
Enrique Flores ◽  
Antonia Herrero

ABSTRACT Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 is a filamentous cyanobacterium that carries out N2 fixation in specialized cells called heterocysts, which exchange nutrients and regulators with the filament's vegetative cells that perform the photosynthetic fixation of CO2. The Anabaena genome carries two genes coding for alkaline/neutral invertases, invA and invB. As shown by Northern analysis, both genes were expressed monocistronically and induced under nitrogen deprivation, although induction was stronger for invB than for invA. Whereas expression of an InvA-N-GFP fusion (green fluorescent protein [GFP] fused to the N terminus of the InvA protein [InvA-N]) was homogeneous along the cyanobacterial filament, consistent with the lack of dependence on HetR, expression of an InvB-N-GFP fusion upon combined nitrogen deprivation took place mainly in differentiating and mature heterocysts. In an hetR genetic background, the InvB-N-GFP fusion was strongly expressed all along the filament. An insertional mutant of invA could grow diazotrophically but was impaired in nifHDK induction and exhibited an increased frequency of heterocysts, suggesting a regulatory role of the invertase-mediated carbon flux in vegetative cells. In contrast, an invB mutant was strongly impaired in diazotrophic growth, showing a crucial role of sucrose catabolism mediated by the InvB invertase in the heterocysts.


2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 2018-2027
Author(s):  
Shoko Mihara ◽  
Kazunori Sugiura ◽  
Keisuke Yoshida ◽  
Toru Hisabori

Abstract In the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) plays an important role in producing the power for reducing nitrogenase under light conditions. Our previous study showed that thioredoxin suppresses G6PDH by reducing its activator protein OpcA, implying that G6PDH is inactivated under light conditions because thioredoxins are reduced by the photosynthetic electron transport system in cyanobacteria. To address how Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 maintains G6PDH activity even under light conditions when nitrogen fixation occurs, we investigated the redox regulation system in vegetative cells and specific nitrogen-fixing cells named heterocysts, individually. We found that thioredoxin target proteins were more oxidized in heterocysts than in vegetative cells under light conditions. Alterations in the redox regulation mechanism of heterocysts may affect the redox states of thioredoxin target proteins, including OpcA, so that G6PDH is activated in heterocysts even under light conditions.


Microbiology ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 150 (2) ◽  
pp. 447-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Degang Ning ◽  
Xudong Xu

Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 was mutagenized by transposon Tn5-1087b, generating a mutant whose heterocysts lack the envelope polysaccharide layer. The transposon was located between nucleotides 342 and 343 of alr0117, a 918 bp gene encoding a histidine kinase for a two-component regulatory system. Complementation of the mutant with a DNA fragment containing alr0117 and targeted inactivation of the gene confirmed that alr0117 is involved in heterocyst development. RT-PCR showed that alr0117 was constitutively expressed in the presence or absence of a combined-nitrogen source. hepA and patB, the two genes turned on during wild-type heterocyst development, were no longer activated in an alr0117-null mutant. The two-component signal transduction system involving alr0117 may control the formation of the envelope polysaccharide layer and certain late events essential to the function of heterocysts.


2011 ◽  
Vol 193 (10) ◽  
pp. 2619-2629 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. K. Saha ◽  
J. W. Golden

2009 ◽  
Vol 192 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masakazu Toyoshima ◽  
Naobumi V. Sasaki ◽  
Makoto Fujiwara ◽  
Shigeki Ehira ◽  
Masayuki Ohmori ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 109 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Videau ◽  
Orion S. Rivers ◽  
Sasa K. Tom ◽  
Reid T. Oshiro ◽  
Blake Ushijima ◽  
...  

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