There has been an increasing interest in cyanobacteria because these photosynthetic organisms convert solar energy into biomass and because of their potential for the production of biofuels. However, the exploitation of cyanobacteria for bioengineering requires knowledge of their transcriptional organization. Using differential RNA sequencing, we have established a genome-wide map of 3,527 transcriptional start sites (TSS) of the model organism Synechocystis sp. PCC6803. One-third of all TSS were located upstream of an annotated gene; another third were on the reverse complementary strand of 866 genes, suggesting massive antisense transcription. Orphan TSS located in intergenic regions led us to predict 314 noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). Complementary microarray-based RNA profiling verified a high number of noncoding transcripts and identified strong ncRNA regulations. Thus, ∼64% of all TSS give rise to antisense or ncRNAs in a genome that is to 87% protein coding. Our data enhance the information on promoters by a factor of 40, suggest the existence of additional small peptide-encoding mRNAs, and provide corrected 5′ annotations for many genes of this cyanobacterium. The global TSS map will facilitate the use of Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 as a model organism for further research on photosynthesis and energy research.gene expression regulation | promoter prediction | RNA polymerase

No abstract

Small regulatory noncoding RNAs exist in both eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms. Most of these RNA transcripts are transencoded RNAs with short and only partial antisense complementarity to their target RNAs, which regulate gene expression by modifying mRNA stability and translation. In contrast, reports on the function of cis-encoded, perfectly complementary antisense RNAs in eubacteria are rare. Cyanobacteria respond to iron deficiency by expressing IsiA (iron stress-induced protein A), which forms a giant ring structure around photosystem I. Here, we show that this process is controlled by IsrR (iron stress-repressed RNA), a cis-encoded antisense RNA transcribed from the isiA noncoding strand. Artificial overexpression of IsrR under iron stress causes a strongly diminished number of IsiA-photosystem I supercomplexes, whereas IsrR depletion results in premature expression of IsiA. The coupled degradation of IsrR͞isiA mRNA duplexes appears to be a reversible switch that can respond to environmental changes. IsrR is the only RNA known so far to regulate a photosynthesis component.cyanobacteria ͉ iron stress ͉ redox stress ͉ regulation of gene expression ͉ light harvesting

Information on the numbers and functions of naturally occurring antisense RNAs (asRNAs) in eubacteria has thus far remained incomplete. Here, we screened the model cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 for asRNAs using four different methods. In the final data set, the number of known noncoding RNAs rose from 6 earlier identified to 60 and of asRNAs from 1 to 73 (28 were verified using at least three methods). Among these, there are many asRNAs to housekeeping, regulatory or metabolic genes, as well as to genes encoding electron transport proteins. Transferring cultures to high light, carbon-limited conditions or darkness influenced the expression levels of several asRNAs, suggesting their functional relevance. Examples include the asRNA to rpl1 , which accumulates in a light-dependent manner and may be required for processing the L11 r-operon and the SyR7 noncoding RNA, which is antisense to the murF 5′ UTR, possibly modulating murein biosynthesis. Extrapolated to the whole genome, ∼10% of all genes in Synechocystis are influenced by asRNAs. Thus, chromosomally encoded asRNAs may have an important function in eubacterial regulatory networks.

Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 is a widely used model cyanobacterium for studying photosynthesis, phototaxis, the production of biofuels and many other aspects. Here we present a re-sequencing study of the genome and seven plasmids of one of the most widely used Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 substrains, the glucose tolerant and motile Moscow or ‘PCC-M’ strain, revealing considerable evidence for recent microevolution. Seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) specifically shared between ‘PCC-M’ and the ‘PCC-N and PCC-P’ substrains indicate that ‘PCC-M’ belongs to the ‘PCC’ group of motile strains. The identified indels and SNPs in ‘PCC-M’ are likely to affect glucose tolerance, motility, phage resistance, certain stress responses as well as functions in the primary metabolism, potentially relevant for the synthesis of alkanes. Three SNPs in intergenic regions could affect the promoter activities of two protein-coding genes and one cis-antisense RNA. Two deletions in ‘PCC-M’ affect parts of clustered regularly interspaced short palindrome repeats-associated spacer-repeat regions on plasmid pSYSA, in one case by an unusual recombination between spacer sequences.

Little is known so far about RNA regulators of photosynthesis in plants, algae, or cyanobacteria. The small RNA PsrR1 (formerly SyR1) has been discovered in Synechocystis sp PCC 6803 and appears to be widely conserved within the cyanobacterial phylum. Expression of PsrR1 is induced shortly after a shift from moderate to high-light conditions. Artificial overexpression of PsrR1 led to a bleaching phenotype under moderate light growth conditions. Advanced computational target prediction suggested that several photosynthesis-related mRNAs could be controlled by PsrR1, a finding supported by the results of transcriptome profiling experiments upon pulsed overexpression of this small RNA in Synechocystis sp PCC 6803. We confirmed the interaction between PsrR1 and the ribosome binding regions of the psaL, psaJ, chlN, and cpcA mRNAs by mutational analysis in a heterologous reporter system. Focusing on psaL as a specific target, we show that the psaL mRNA is processed by RNase E only in the presence of PsrR1. Furthermore, we provide evidence for a posttranscriptional regulation of psaL by PsrR1 in the wild type at various environmental conditions and analyzed the consequences of PsrR1-based regulation on photosystem I. In summary, computational and experimental data consistently establish the small RNA PsrR1 as a regulatory factor controlling photosynthetic functions.

SummaryCph2 from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 is a hybrid photoreceptor that comprises an N-terminal module for red/far-red light reception and a C-terminal module switching between a blue-and a green-receptive state. This unusual photoreceptor exerts complex, light quality-dependent control of the motility of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 cells by inhibiting phototaxis towards blue light. Cph2 perceives blue light by its third GAF domain that bears all characteristics of a cyanobacteriochrome (CBCR) including photoconversion between green-and blueabsorbing states as well as formation of a bilin species simultaneously tethered to two cysteines, C994 and C1022. Upon blue light illumination the CBCR domain activates the subsequent C-terminal GGDEF domain, which catalyses formation of the second messenger c-di-GMP. Accordingly, expression of the CBCR-GGDEF module in Dcph2 mutant cells restores the blue light-dependent inhibition of motility. Additional expression of the N-terminal Cph2 fragment harbouring a red/far-red interconverting phytochrome fused to a c-di-GMP degrading EAL domain restores the complex behaviour of the intact Cph2 photosensor. c-di-GMP was shown to regulate flagellar and pilibased motility in several bacteria. Here we provide the first evidence that this universal bacterial second messenger is directly involved in the light-dependent regulation of cyanobacterial phototaxis.

Bacterial phototaxis was first recognized over a century ago, but the method by which such small cells can sense the direction of illumination has remained puzzling. The unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 moves with Type IV pili and measures light intensity and color with a range of photoreceptors. Here, we show that individual Synechocystis cells do not respond to a spatiotemporal gradient in light intensity, but rather they directly and accurately sense the position of a light source. We show that directional light sensing is possible because Synechocystis cells act as spherical microlenses, allowing the cell to see a light source and move towards it. A high-resolution image of the light source is focused on the edge of the cell opposite to the source, triggering movement away from the focused spot. Spherical cyanobacteria are probably the world’s smallest and oldest example of a camera eye. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.12620.001