LexA-binding sequences in Gram-positive and cyanobacteria are closely related

The lexA gene of the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC7120 has been cloned by PCR amplification with primers designed after TBLASTN analysis of its genome sequence using the Escherichia coli LexA sequence as a probe. After over-expression in E. coli and subsequent purification, footprinting experiments demonstrated that the Anabaena LexA protein binds to the sequence TAGTACTAATGTTCTA, which is found upstream of its own coding gene. Directed mutagenesis and sequence comparison of promoters of other Anabaena genes, as well as those of several cyanobacteria, allowed us to define the motif RGTACNNNDGTWCB as the LexA box in this bacterial phylum. Substitution of a single nucleotide in this motif present in the Anabena lexA promoter is sufficient to enable it to bind the Bacillus subtilis LexA protein. These data indicate that Cyanobacteria and Gram-positive bacteria are phylogenetically closely related.

The presence of glutamate dehydrogenase is a selective advantage for the Cyanobacterium synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 under nonexponential growth conditions

The 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.