Preventing Accidental Heterocyst Development in Cyanobacteria

Wei-Yue Xing; Cheng-Cai Zhang

doi:10.1128/JB.00349-19

Preventing Accidental Heterocyst Development in Cyanobacteria

J Bacteriol. 2019 Aug 8;201(17):e00349-19. doi: 10.1128/JB.00349-19. Print 2019 Sep 1.

Authors

Wei-Yue Xing^{1

2

3}, Cheng-Cai Zhang^{4

2}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China.
² Key Laboratory of Algal Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China.
³ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China cczhang@ihb.ac.cn.

Abstract

The filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena can form heterocysts specialized in N₂ fixation, mostly through a cascade of transcriptional activation in response to the nitrogen starvation signal 2-oxoglutarate. It is reported now that a transcription repressor, CalA, acts as a safety device to prevent heterocyst development under certain conditions where the 2-oxoglutarate level may touch the threshold to trigger unnecessary initiation of heterocyst development. Such a control may increase the fitness of Anabaena under a constantly changing environment.

Keywords: Anabaena; cell differentiation; metabolic balance; nitrogen fixation; transcriptional regulation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bacterial Proteins / genetics
Bacterial Proteins / metabolism*
Cyanobacteria / physiology*
Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial*
Nitrogen / metabolism
Transcription Factors

Substances

Bacterial Proteins
Transcription Factors
Nitrogen