Quantitative insights into the cyanobacterial cell economy

  1. Tomáš Zavřel  Is a corresponding author
  2. Marjan Faizi
  3. Cristina Loureiro
  4. Gereon Poschmann
  5. Kai Stühler
  6. Maria Sinetova
  7. Anna Zorina
  8. Ralf Steuer  Is a corresponding author
  9. Jan Červený
  1. Global Change Research Institute CAS, Czech Republic
  2. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
  3. Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain
  4. Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Germany
  5. Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Federation

Abstract

Phototrophic microorganisms are promising resources for green biotechnology. Compared to heterotrophic microorganisms, however, the cellular economy of phototrophic growth is still insufficiently understood. We provide a quantitative analysis of light-limited, light-saturated, and light-inhibited growth of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 using a reproducible cultivation setup. We report key physiological parameters, including growth rate, cell size, and photosynthetic activity over a wide range of light intensities. Intracellular proteins were quantified to monitor proteome allocation as a function of growth rate. Among other physiological adaptations, we identify an upregulation of the translational machinery and downregulation of light harvesting components with increasing light intensity and growth rate. The resulting growth laws are discussed in the context of a coarse-grained model of phototrophic growth and available data obtained by a comprehensive literature search. Our insights into quantitative aspects of cyanobacterial adaptations to different growth rates have implications to understand and optimize photosynthetic productivity.

Data availability

Proteomics data have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange Consortium under accession code PXD009626.

The following data sets were generated

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Tomáš Zavřel

    Laboratory of Adaptive Biotechnologies, Global Change Research Institute CAS, Brno, Czech Republic
    For correspondence
    zavrel.t@czechglobe.cz
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-0849-3503
  2. Marjan Faizi

    Institut für Biologie, Fachinstitut für Theoretische Biologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Cristina Loureiro

    Department of Applied Physics, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Gereon Poschmann

    Molecular Proteomics Laboratory, BMFZ, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-2448-0611
  5. Kai Stühler

    Molecular Proteomics Laboratory, BMFZ, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Maria Sinetova

    Timiryazev Institute of Plant Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Anna Zorina

    Timiryazev Institute of Plant Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Ralf Steuer

    Institut für Biologie, Fachinstitut für Theoretische Biologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
    For correspondence
    ralf.steuer@hu-berlin.de
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-2217-1655
  9. Jan Červený

    Laboratory of Adaptive Biotechnologies, Global Change Research Institute CAS, Brno, Czech Republic
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-5046-3105

Funding

Ministerstvo Školství, Mládeže a Tělovýchovy

  • Tomáš Zavřel
  • Jan Červený

Grantová Agentura České Republiky

  • Tomáš Zavřel
  • Jan Červený

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

  • Marjan Faizi
  • Gereon Poschmann
  • Kai Stühler

Russian Science Foundation

  • Maria Sinetova
  • Anna Zorina

Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung

  • Ralf Steuer

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Copyright

© 2019, Zavřel et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Tomáš Zavřel
  2. Marjan Faizi
  3. Cristina Loureiro
  4. Gereon Poschmann
  5. Kai Stühler
  6. Maria Sinetova
  7. Anna Zorina
  8. Ralf Steuer
  9. Jan Červený
(2019)
Quantitative insights into the cyanobacterial cell economy
eLife 8:e42508.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.42508

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.42508

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