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Background Cyanobacteria are promising hosts for the production of various industrially important compounds such as succinate. This study focuses on introduction of the glyoxylate shunt, which is naturally present in only a few cyanobacteria, into Synechocystis PCC 6803. In order to test its impact on cell metabolism, engineered strains were evaluated for succinate accumulation under conditions of light, darkness and anoxic darkness. Each condition was complemented by treatments with 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone, an inhibitor of succinate dehydrogenase enzyme, and acetate, both in nitrogen replete and deplete medium. Results We were able to introduce genes encoding the glyoxylate shunt, aceA and aceB, encoding isocitrate lyase and malate synthase respectively, into a strain of Synechocystis PCC 6803 engineered to overexpress phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase. Our results show that complete expression of the glyoxylate shunt results in higher extracellular succinate accumulation compared to the wild type control strain after incubation of cells in darkness and anoxic darkness in the presence of nitrate. Addition of the inhibitor 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone increased succinate titers in all the conditions tested when nitrate was available. Addition of acetate in the presence of the inhibitor further increased the succinate accumulation, resulting in high levels when phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase was overexpressed, compared to control strain. However, the highest succinate titer was obtained after dark incubation of an engineered strain with a partial glyoxylate shunt overexpressing isocitrate lyase in addition to phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, with only 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone supplementation to the medium. Conclusions Heterologous expression of the glyoxylate shunt with its central link to the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) for acetate assimilation provides insight on the coordination of the carbon metabolism in the cell. Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase plays an important role in directing carbon flux towards the TCA cycle.

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPc) is an essential enzyme in plants. A photosynthetic form is present both as dimer and tetramer in C4 and CAM metabolism. Additionally, non-photosynthetic PEPcs are also present. The single, non-photosynthetic PEPc of the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechococcus PCC 7002 (Synechococcus), involved in the TCA cycle, was examined. Using size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), we observed that PEPc in Synechococcus exists as both a dimer and a tetramer. This is the first demonstration of two different oligomerization states of a non-photosynthetic PEPc. High concentration of Mg2+, the substrate PEP and a combination of low concentration of Mg2+ and HCO3− induced the tetramer form of the carboxylase. Using SEC-SAXS analysis, we showed that the oligomerization state of the carboxylase is concentration dependent and that, among the available crystal structures of PEPc, the scattering profile of PEPc of Synechococcus agrees best with the structure of PEPc from Escherichia coli. In addition, the kinetics of the tetramer purified in presence of Mg2+ using SEC, and of the mixed population purified in presence of Mg2+ using a Strep-tagged column were examined. Moreover, the enzyme showed interesting allosteric regulation, being activated by succinate and inhibited by glutamine, and not affected by either malate, 2-oxoglutarate, aspartic acid or citric acid.

Synechocystis PCC 6803 strains overexpressing pepc , gene encoding the carbon fixing enzyme phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPc), were constructed and characterized for growth, PEPc protein content and in vitro PEPc activities. Synechocystis strains WT + Km r – one (native) copy of pepc (control), WT + 2xPEPc – native copy of pepc and two additional native copies of pepc (in total three copies of pepc ), and WT + PPM — native copies of ppsa (encoding phosphoenolpyruvate synthase), pepc and mdh (encoding malate dehydrogenase) and one additional copy of each gene (in total two copies each of ppsa , pepc and mdh ) were analyzed for growth under normal and low light intensities, and in darkness (no growth). No significant differences in the growth rates were observed when the cells were grown under normal light intensity. However, growth under low light intensity (3 μmol photons·m − 2 ·sec − 1 ) resulted in increased growth rate, in particular in the strain with 3 copies of pepc . SDS-PAGE/Western immunoblots using antibodies directed against PEPc demonstrated an increased level of PEPc protein with increasing number of copies of pepc . This was followed by increased levels of in vitro PEPc activities. A less efficient ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase in combination with reduced levels of NADPH and ATP under low light condition may make the relatively more efficient carbon fixing enzyme PEPc the limiting step for growth under this condition.

Cyanobacteria, gram-negative prokaryotic microorganisms, perform oxygenic photosynthesis with a photosynthetic machinery similar to higher plants which includes ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO) as the main CO2-fixing enzyme. Currently, there is a growing interest to use cyanobacteria as photosynthetic microbial cell factories for the direct production of solar fuels or other compounds of human interest. However, rates and efficiencies to produce e.g. biofuels are still very low. The amount of available fixed carbon for the synthesis of desired product(s) may be one of the limiting steps. This contribution reviews CO2-fixation in cyanobacteria with focus on CO2-concentrating mechanisms, RuBisCO, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase and other carboxylases, engineering approaches for increased carbon fixation, and finally the synthetic malonyl-CoA-oxaloacetate-glyoxylate pathways.

Fast depletion of petroleum resources and environmental concerns due to rapidly increasing fossil fuel related CO2 emissions have prompted scientists to find more sustainable and environmental friendly fuel alternatives. Considering this, algal conversion of CO2 to biofuels has received increased attention in recent times. In particular, cyanobacteria have been considered as promising candidates for biofuel production considering their fast growth rate, ability to fix carbon dioxide, and their genetic tractability. In parallel to the advancements in synthetic biology and genetic engineering, several proofs of concept studies have emerged demonstrating the ability of cyanobacteria to produce different kinds of biofuels including alcohols, hydrogen, and fatty acid derived biofuels. However, presently their low titer values impede their commercial success. In this perspective, we review the recent publications on engineering cyanobacteria for biofuel production discuss the challenges and scope of improvements for advancing cyanobacterial fuel production.