Article
The presence of glutamate dehydrogenase is a selective advantage for the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 under nonexponential growth conditions
Author/s | Chávez de Diego, Sebastián
Lucena Soto, José Manuel Reyes Rosa, José Carlos Florencio Bellido, Francisco Javier Candau Chacón, Pedro |
Department | Universidad de Sevilla. Departamento de Genética |
Publication Date | 1999 |
Deposit Date | 2017-07-25 |
Published in |
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Abstract | he unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 has two putative pathways for ammonium assimilation: the glutamine synthetase- glutamate synthase cycle, which is the main one and is finely regulated by the ... he unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 has two putative pathways for ammonium assimilation: the glutamine synthetase- glutamate synthase cycle, which is the main one and is finely regulated by the nitrogen source; and a high NADP-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase activity (NADP-GDH) whose contribution to glutamate synthesis is uncertain. To investigate the role of the latter, we used two engineered mutants, one lacking and another overproducing NADP-GDH. No major disturbances in the regulation of nitrogen-assimilating enzymes or in amino acids pools were detected in the null mutant, but phycobiline content, a sensitive indicator of the nutritional state of cyanobacterial cells, was significantly reduced, indicating that NADP-GDH plays an auxiliary role in ammonium assimilation. This effect was already prominent in the initial phase of growth, although differences in growth rate between the wild type and the mutants were observed at this stage only at low light intensities. However, the null mutant was unable to sustain growth at the late stage of the culture at the point when the wild type showed the maximum NADP-GDH activity, and died faster in ammonium-containing medium. Overexpression of NADP-GDH improved culture proliferation under moderate ammonium concentrations. Competition experiments between the wild type and the null mutant confirmed that the presence of NADP-GDH confers a selective advantage to Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 in late stages of growth. |
Funding agencies | Dirección General de Investigación Científica y Técnica (DGICYT). España Junta de Andalucía |
Project ID. | PB91-0127
PB94-1444 CVI 0112 |
Citation | Chávez de Diego, S., Lucena Soto, J.M., Reyes Rosa, J.C., Florencio Bellido, F.J. y Candau Chacón, P. (1999). The presence of glutamate dehydrogenase is a selective advantage for the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 under nonexponential growth conditions. Journal of Bacteriology, 181 (3), 808-813. |
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