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Photomixotrophic growth A (PmgA) is a pleiotropic regulator essential for growth under photomixotrophic and prolonged high-light (HL) conditions in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. The overall similarity with the antisigma factor of the bacterial partner-switching system indicates that PmgA exerts a regulatory function via phosphorylation of its target proteins. In this study, we performed an in vitro phosphorylation assay and protein-protein interaction analysis and found that PmgA interacts with 4 antisigma antagonist homologs, Ssr1600, Slr1856, Slr1859, and Slr1912, but specifically phosphorylates Ssr1600. Phenotypic analyses using the set of gene disruption and overexpression strains of pmgA and ssr1600 revealed that phosphorylation by PmgA is essential for the accumulation of Ssr1600 protein in vivo. The ssr1600-disrupted mutant showed similar phenotypes as those previously reported for the pmgA-disrupted mutant, namely, no obvious phenotype just after the shift to HL, but higher chlorophyll content, 5-aminolevulinic acid synthesis activity, and psaAB transcript levels than those in the wild type after 6 h. These findings indicate that the phosphorylated form of Ssr1600 works as the output of the partner-switching system to coordinately repress chlorophyll biosynthesis and accumulation of photosystem I during HL acclimation., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest statement. None declared., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Examination of the effects of high temperature on the photoinhibition of photosystem II (PSII) in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 revealed that the extent of photoinhibition of PSII was lower at moderately high temperatures (35-42 °C) than at 30 °C. Photodamage to PSII, as determined in the presence of chloramphenicol, which blocks the repair of PSII, was accelerated at the moderately high temperatures but the effects of repair were greater than those of photodamage. The synthesis de novo of the D1 protein, which is essential for the repair of PSII, was enhanced at 38 °C. Electron transport and the synthesis of ATP were also enhanced at 38 °C, while levels of reactive oxygen species fell. Inhibition of the Calvin-Benson cycle with glycolaldehyde abolished the enhancement of repair of PSII at 38 °C, suggesting that an increase in the activity of the Calvin-Benson cycle might be required for the enhancement of repair at moderately high temperatures. The synthesis de novo of metabolic intermediates of the Calvin-Benson cycle, such as 3-phosphoglycerate, was also enhanced at 38 °C. We propose that moderate heat stress might enhance the repair of PSII by stimulating the synthesis of ATP and depressing the production of reactive oxygen species, via the stimulation of electron transport and suppression of the accumulation of excess electrons on the acceptor side of photosystem I, which might be driven by an increase in the activity of the Calvin-Benson cycle., (© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Photosynthetic organisms have evolved various acclimatory responses to high-light (HL) conditions to maintain a balance between energy supply (light harvesting and electron transport) and consumption (cellular metabolism) and to protect the photosynthetic apparatus from photodamage. The molecular mechanism of HL acclimation has been extensively studied in the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. Whole genome DNA microarray analyses have revealed that the change in gene expression profile under HL is closely correlated with subsequent acclimatory responses such as (1) acceleration in the rate of photosystem II turnover, (2) downregulation of light harvesting capacity, (3) development of a protection mechanism for the photosystems against excess light energy, (4) upregulation of general protection mechanism components, and (5) regulation of carbon and nitrogen assimilation. In this review article, we survey recent progress in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of these acclimatory responses in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. We also briefly describe attempts to understand HL acclimation in various cyanobacterial species in their natural environments.

The coordinated high-light response of genes encoding subunits of photosystem I (PSI) is achieved by the AT-rich region located just upstream of the core promoter in Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803. The upstream element enhances the basal promoter activity under low-light conditions, whereas this positive regulation is lost immediately after the shift to high-light conditions. In this study, we focused on a high-light regulatory 1 (HLR1) sequence included in the upstream element of every PSI gene examined. A gel mobility shift assay revealed that a response regulator RpaB binds to the HLR1 sequence in PSI promoters. Base substitution in the HLR1 sequence or decrease in copy number of the rpaB gene resulted in decrease in the promoter activity of PSI genes under low-light conditions. These observations suggest that RpaB acts as a transcriptional activator for PSI genes. It is likely that RpaB binds to the HLR1 sequence under low-light conditions and works for positive regulation of PSI genes and for negative regulation of high-light-inducible genes depending on the location of the HLR1 sequence within target promoters.

Downregulation of photosystem I (PSI) content is an essential process for cyanobacteria to grow under high-light (HL) conditions. In a pmgA (sll1968) mutant of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, the levels of PSI content, chlorophyll and transcripts of the psaAB genes encoding reaction-centre subunits of PSI could not be maintained low during HL incubation, although the causal relationship among these phenotypes remains unknown. In this study, we modulated the activity of psaAB transcription or that of chlorophyll synthesis to estimate their contribution to the regulation of PSI content under HL conditions. Analysis of the psaAB-OX strain, in which the psaAB genes were overexpressed under HL conditions, revealed that the amount of psaAB transcript could not affect PSI content by itself. Suppression of chlorophyll synthesis by an inhibitor, laevulinic acid, in the pmgA mutant revealed that chlorophyll availability could be a determinant of PSI content under HL. It was also suggested that chlorophyll content under HL conditions is mainly regulated at the level of 5-aminolaevulinic acid synthesis. We conclude that, upon the shift to HL conditions, activities of psaAB transcription and of 5-aminolaevulinic acid synthesis are strictly downregulated by regulatory mechanism(s) independent of PmgA during the first 6 h, and then a PmgA-mediated regulatory mechanism becomes active after 6 h onward of HL incubation to maintain these activities at a low level.

DNA microarrays bearing nearly all of the genes of the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp PCC 6803 were used to examine the temporal program of gene expression during acclimation from low to high light intensity. A complete pattern is provided of gene expression during acclimation of a photosynthetic organism to changing light intensity. More than 160 responsive genes were identified and classified into distinct sets. Genes involved in light absorption and photochemical reactions were downregulated within 15 min of exposure to high light intensity, whereas those associated with CO(2) fixation and protection from photoinhibition were upregulated. Changes in the expression of genes involved in replication, transcription, and translation, which were induced to support cellular proliferation, occurred later. Several unidentified open reading frames were induced or repressed. The possible involvement of these genes in the acclimation to high light conditions is discussed.

We characterized the photosynthetic properties of the pmgA mutant of Synechocystis PCC 6803, which cannot change its photosystem stoichiometry under a high-light condition (200 micromol x m(-2) x s(-1)), in order to clarify the physiological significance of the regulation of photosystem stoichiometry. We found that (1) PSII activity was inhibited more in wild-type cells on the first day under the high-light conditions than in mutant cells. (2) The growth of the mutants following the initial imposition of high light was faster than that of wild-type cells. (3) However, growth was severely inhibited in the mutants after the third day of exposure to high light. (4) The growth inhibition in the mutants under the extended high-light conditions was reversed by the addition of sublethal concentrations of 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU), which seemed to mimic photoinhibition of PSII. These results suggest that the main role of adjusting the photosystem stoichiometry with respect to light intensity is not to maintain efficient photosynthesis, but to down regulate electron transfer. Failure to down regulate electron flow leads to cell death under prolonged exposure to high light in this cyanobacterium.

Previously, we identified a novel gene, pmgA, as an essential factor to support photomixotrophic growth of Synechocystis species PCC 6803 and reported that a strain in which pmgA was deleted grew better than the wild type under photoautotrophic conditions. To gain insight into the role of pmgA, we investigated the mutant phenotype of pmgA in detail. When low-light-grown (20 microE m(-2) s(-1)) cells were transferred to high light (HL [200 microE m(-2) s(-1)]), pmgA mutants failed to respond in the manner typically associated with Synechocystis. Specifically, mutants lost their ability to suppress accumulation of chlorophyll and photosystem I and, consequently, could not modulate photosystem stoichiometry. These phenotypes seem to result in enhanced rates of photosynthesis and growth during short-term exposure to HL. Moreover, mixed-culture experiments clearly demonstrated that loss of pmgA function was selected against during longer-term exposure to HL, suggesting that pmgA is involved in acquisition of resistance to HL stress. Finally, early induction of pmgA expression detected by reverse transcriptase-PCR upon the shift to HL led us to conclude that pmgA is the first gene identified, to our knowledge, as a specific regulatory factor for HL acclimation.