Increased biomass production and glycogen accumulation in apcE gene deleted Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

Ancy Joseph; Shimpei Aikawa; Kengo Sasaki; Fumio Matsuda; Tomohisa Hasunuma; Akihiko Kondo

doi:10.1186/s13568-014-0017-z

Increased biomass production and glycogen accumulation in apcE gene deleted Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

AMB Express. 2014 Mar 15:4:17. doi: 10.1186/s13568-014-0017-z. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Ancy Joseph¹, Shimpei Aikawa², Kengo Sasaki³, Fumio Matsuda⁴, Tomohisa Hasunuma⁵, Akihiko Kondo⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodaicho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501, Hyogo, Japan.
² Department of Chemical Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodaicho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501, Hyogo, Japan ; Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Agency, 3-5 Sanbancho, Chiyoda-ku 102-0075, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Organization of Advanced Science and Technology, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodaicho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501, Hyogo, Japan.
⁴ Department of Bioinformatic Engineering, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Osaka University, 1-5 Yamadaoka, Suita 565-0871, Osaka, Japan ; RIKEN Biomass Engineering Program, 1-7-22 Suehirocho, Tsurumi, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan.
⁵ Organization of Advanced Science and Technology, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodaicho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501, Hyogo, Japan ; Precursory Research for Embryotic Science and Technology (PRESTO), Japan Science and Technology Agency, 3-5 Sanbancho, Chiyoda-ku 102-0075, Tokyo, Japan.
⁶ Department of Chemical Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodaicho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501, Hyogo, Japan ; RIKEN Biomass Engineering Program, 1-7-22 Suehirocho, Tsurumi, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan ; Department of Food Bioscience and Technology, College of Life Science and Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul 136-713, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

The effect of phycobilisome antenna-truncation in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 on biomass production and glycogen accumulation have not yet been fully clarified. To investigate these effects here, the apcE gene, which encodes the anchor protein linking the phycobilisome to the thylakoid membrane, was deleted in a glucose tolerant strain of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. Biomass production of the apcE-deleted strain under photoautotrophic and atmospheric air conditions was 1.6 times higher than that of strain PCC 6803 (1.32 ± 0.01 versus 0.84 ± 0.07 g cell-dry weight L(-1), respectively) after 15 days of cultivation. In addition, the glycogen content of the apcE-deleted strain (24.2 ± 0.7%) was also higher than that of strain PCC 6803 (11.1 ± 0.3%). Together, these results demonstrate that antenna truncation by deleting the apcE gene was effective for increasing biomass production and glycogen accumulation under photoautotrophic and atmospheric air conditions in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.

Keywords: Antenna truncation; Biomass production; Cyanobacteria; Glycogen; Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.