The ω subunit of RNA polymerase is essential for thermal acclimation of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

Cyanobacterial myxoxanthophylls: biotechnological interventions and biological implications

Cyanobacteria safeguard their photosynthetic machinery from oxidative damage caused by adverse environmental factors such as high-intensity light. Together with many photoprotective compounds, they contain myxoxanthophylls, a rare group of glycosidic carotenoids containing a high number of conjugated double bonds. These carotenoids have been shown to: have strong photoprotective effects, contribute to the integrity of the thylakoid membrane, and upregulate in cyanobacteria under a variety of stress conditions. However, their metabolic potential has not been fully utilized in the stress biology of cyanobacteria and the pharmaceutical industry due to a lack of mechanistic understanding and their insufficient biosynthesis. This review summarizes current knowledge on: biological function, genetic regulation, biotechnological production, and pharmaceutical potential of myxoxanthophyll, with a focus on strain engineering and parameter optimization strategies for increasing their cellular content. The summarized knowledge can be utilized in cyanobacterial metabolic engineering to improve the stress tolerance of useful strains and enhance the commercial-scale synthesis of myxoxanthophyll for pharmaceutical uses.

Identification and Structural Modeling of the RNA Polymerase Omega Subunits in Chlamydiae and Other Obligate Intracellular Bacteria

Gene transcription in bacteria is carried out by the multisubunit RNA polymerase (RNAP), which is composed of a catalytic core enzyme and a promoter-recognizing σ factor. The core enzyme comprises two α subunits, one β subunit, one β' subunit, and one ω subunit. The ω subunit plays critical roles in the assembly of the core enzyme and other cellular functions, including the regulation of bacterial growth, the stress response, and biofilm formation. However, the identity of an ω subunit for the obligate intracellular bacterium Chlamydia has not previously been determined. Here, we report the identification of the hypothetical protein CTL0286 as the probable chlamydial ω subunit based on sequence, synteny, and AlphaFold and AlphaFold-Multimer three-dimensional-structure predictions. Our findings indicate that CTL0286 functions as the missing ω subunit of chlamydial RNAP. Our extended analysis also indicates that all obligate intracellular bacteria have ω orthologs. IMPORTANCE Chlamydiae are obligate intracellular bacteria that replicate only inside eukaryotic cells. Previously, it has not been possible to identify a candidate gene encoding the chlamydial RNA polymerase ω subunit, and it has been hypothesized that the chlamydial RNA polymerase ω subunit was lost in the evolutionary process through which Chlamydiae reduced their genome size and proteome sizes to adapt to an obligate intracellular lifestyle. Here, we report the identification of the chlamydial RNA polymerase ω subunit, based on conserved sequence, conserved synteny, AlphaFold-predicted conserved three-dimensional structure, and AlfaFold-Multimer-predicted conserved interactions. Our identification of the previously elusive chlamydial RNA polymerase ω subunit sets the stage for investigation of its roles in regulation of gene expression during chlamydial growth, development, and stress responses, and sets the stage for preparation and study of the intact chlamydial RNA polymerase and its interactions with inhibitors.

The genome sequence of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 substrain GT-T and its implications for the evolution of PCC 6803 substrains

Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 is a model cyanobacterium, glucose-tolerant substrains of which are commonly used as laboratory strains. In recent years, it has become evident that 'wild-type' strains used in different laboratories show some differences in their phenotypes. We report here the chromosome sequence of our Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 substrain, named substrain GT-T. The chromosome sequence of GT-T was compared to those of two other commonly used laboratory substrains, GT-S and PCC-M. We identified 11 specific mutations in the GT-T substrain, whose physiological consequences are discussed. We also provide an update on evolutionary relationships between different Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 substrains.

Revealing secrets of the enigmatic omega subunit of bacterial RNA polymerase

The conserved omega (ω) subunit of RNA polymerase (RNAP) is the only nonessential subunit of bacterial RNAP core. The small ω subunit (7 kDa-11.5 kDa) contains three conserved α helices, and helices α2 and α3 contain five fully conserved amino acids of ω. Four conserved amino acids stabilize the correct folding of the ω subunit and one is located in the vicinity of the β' subunit of RNAP. Otherwise ω shows high variation between bacterial taxa, and although the main interaction partner of ω is always β', many interactions are taxon-specific. ω-less strains show pleiotropic phenotypes, and based on in vivo and in vitro results, a few roles for the ω subunits have been described. Interactions of the ω subunit with the β' subunit are important for the RNAP core assembly and integrity. In addition, the ω subunit plays a role in promoter selection, as ω-less RNAP cores recruit fewer primary σ factors and more alternative σ factors than intact RNAP cores in many species. Furthermore, the promoter selection of an ω-less RNAP holoenzyme bearing the primary σ factor seems to differ from that of an intact RNAP holoenzyme.

Pooled CRISPRi screening of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp PCC 6803 for enhanced industrial phenotypes

Cyanobacteria are model organisms for photosynthesis and are attractive for biotechnology applications. To aid investigation of genotype-phenotype relationships in cyanobacteria, we develop an inducible CRISPRi gene repression library in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, where we aim to target all genes for repression. We track the growth of all library members in multiple conditions and estimate gene fitness. The library reveals several clones with increased growth rates, and these have a common upregulation of genes related to cyclic electron flow. We challenge the library with 0.1 M L-lactate and find that repression of peroxiredoxin bcp2 increases growth rate by 49%. Transforming the library into an L-lactate-secreting Synechocystis strain and sorting top lactate producers enriches clones with sgRNAs targeting nutrient assimilation, central carbon metabolism, and cyclic electron flow. In many examples, productivity can be enhanced by repression of essential genes, which are difficult to access by transposon insertion.

Transcription in cyanobacteria: a distinctive machinery and putative mechanisms

Transcription in cyanobacteria involves several fascinating features. Cyanobacteria comprise one of the very few groups in which no proofreading factors (Gre homologues) have been identified. Gre factors increase the efficiency of RNA cleavage, therefore helping to maintain the fidelity of the RNA transcript and assist in the resolution of stalled RNAPs to prevent genome damage. The vast majority of bacterial species encode at least one of these highly conserved factors and so their absence in cyanobacteria is intriguing. Additionally, the largest subunit of bacterial RNAP has undergone a split in cyanobacteria to form two subunits and the SI3 insertion within the integral trigger loop element is roughly 3.5 times larger than in Escherichia coli. The Rho termination factor also appears to be absent, leaving cyanobacteria to rely solely on an intrinsic termination mechanism. Furthermore, cyanobacteria must be able to respond to environment signals such as light intensity and tightly synchronise gene expression and other cell activities to a circadian rhythm.

Influence of Flexible "ω" on the Activity of E. coli RNA Polymerase: A Thermodynamic Analysis

The Escherichia coli RNA polymerase (RNAP) is a multisubunit protein complex containing the smallest subunit, ω. Despite the evolutionary conservation of ω and its role in assembly of RNAP, E. coli mutants lacking rpoZ (codes for ω) are viable due to the association of RNAP with the global chaperone protein GroEL. With an aim to get better insight into the structure and functional role of ω, we isolated a dominant negative mutant of ω (ω₆), which is predominantly α-helical, in contrast to largely unstructured native ω, and then studied its assembly with reconstituted core1 (α₂ββ') by a biophysical approach. The mutant showed higher binding affinity compared to native ω. We observed that the interaction between core1 and ω₆ is driven by highly negative enthalpy and a small but unfavorable negative entropy term. Extensive structural alteration in ω₆ makes it more rigid, the plasticity of the interacting domain formed by ω₆ and core1 is compromised, which may be responsible for the entropic cost. Such tight binding of the structured mutant (ω₆) affects initiation of transcription. However, once preinitiated, the complex elongates the RNA chain efficiently. The initiation of transcription requires recognition of appropriate σ-factors by the core enzyme (core2: α₂ββ'ω). We found that the altered core enzyme (α₂ββ'ω₆) with mutant ω showed a decrease in binding affinity to the σ-factors (σ⁷⁰, σ³² and σ³⁸) compared to that of the core enzyme containing native ω. In the absence of unstructured ω, the association of σ-factors to the core is less efficient, suggesting that the flexible native ω plays a direct role in σ-factor recruitment.

Acclimation to High CO2 Requires the ω Subunit of the RNA Polymerase in Synechocystis

Inactivation of the nonessential ω-subunit of the RNA polymerase core in the ΔrpoZ strain of the model cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 leads to a unique high-CO₂-sensitive phenotype. Supplementing air in the growth chamber with 30 mL L^-1 (3%) CO₂ accelerated the growth rate of the control strain (CS) 4-fold, whereas ΔrpoZ did not grow faster than under ambient air. The slow growth of ΔrpoZ during the first days in high CO₂ was due to the inability of the mutant cells to adjust photosynthesis to high CO₂ The light-saturated photosynthetic activity of ΔrpoZ in high CO₂ was only half of that measured in CS, Rubisco content was one-third lower, and cells of ΔrpoZ were not able to increase light-harvesting phycobilisome antenna like CS upon high-CO₂ treatment. In addition, altered structural and functional organization of photosystem I and photosystem II were detected in the ΔrpoZ strain compared with CS when cells were grown in high CO₂ but not in ambient air. Moreover, respiration of ΔrpoZ did not acclimate to high CO₂ Unlike the photosynthetic complexes, the RNA polymerase complex and ribosomes were produced in high CO₂ similarly as in CS Our results indicate that the deletion of the ω-subunit specifically affects photosynthesis and respiration, but transcription and translation remain active. Thus, the specific effect of the ω-subunit on photosynthesis but not on all household processes suggests that the ω-subunit might have a regulatory function in cyanobacteria.

Small things considered: the small accessory subunits of RNA polymerase in Gram-positive bacteria

The DNA-dependent RNA polymerase core enzyme in Gram-positive bacteria consists of seven subunits. Whilst four of them (α2ββ(')) are essential, three smaller subunits, δ, ε and ω (∼9-21.5 kDa), are considered accessory. Both δ and ω have been viewed as integral components of RNAP for several decades; however, ε has only recently been described. Functionally these three small subunits carry out a variety of tasks, imparting important, supportive effects on the transcriptional process of Gram-positive bacteria. While ω is thought to have a wide range of roles, reaching from maintaining structural integrity of RNAP to σ factor recruitment, the only suggested function for ε thus far is in protecting cells from phage infection. The third subunit, δ, has been shown to have distinct influences in maintaining transcriptional specificity, and thus has a key role in cellular fitness. Collectively, all three accessory subunits, although dispensable under laboratory conditions, are often thought to be crucial for proper RNAP function. Herein we provide an overview of the available literature on each subunit, summarizing landmark findings that have deepened our understanding of these proteins and their function, and outline future challenges in understanding the role of these small subunits in the transcriptional process.