Comparative Genomics of Synechococcus elongatus Explains the Phenotypic Diversity of the Strains

Abstract

Synechococcus elongatus is a versatile and robust model cyanobacterium for photosynthetic metabolism and circadian biology research, with utility as a biological production platform. We compared the genomes of closely related S. elongatus strains to create a pangenome annotation to aid gene discovery for novel phenotypes.

Cell surface composition and ionic strength mediate fast sedimentation in the cyanobacteriumSynechococcus elongatusPCC 7942

“…A similar pattern of laboratory domestication is now emerging for another well-studied freshwater cyanobacterium, Synechococcus elongatus (hereafter S. elongatus ) (Adomako et al ., 2022). S. elongatus PCC 7942 has been used extensively as a model for the prokaryotic circadian clock (Cohen and Golden, 2015).…”

“…On the other hand, strains of the PCC 6803 lineage have played a key role in unravelling the mechanisms behind motility, phototaxis and protein secretion (Bhaya et al, 1999;Schuergers et al, 2016;Russo et al, 2022). A similar pattern of laboratory domestication is now emerging for another well-studied freshwater cyanobacterium, Synechococcus elongatus (hereafter S. elongatus) (Adomako et al, 2022). S. elongatus PCC 7942 has been used extensively as a model for the prokaryotic circadian clock (Cohen and Golden, 2015).…”

Genomic analysis and biochemical profiling of an unaxenic strain of Synechococcus sp. isolated from the Peruvian Amazon Basin region

“…It is necessary to consider that the biochemical composition of the cyanobacterial biomass depends on biotic and abiotic factors. The biotic factors include the growth phase, the associate microorganisms (e.g., yeasts, microalgae, and bacteria), the presence of cyanophages, the genetic constitution of the strain, and its level of laboratory domestication ( Wilson et al, 1996 , 78031; Ni and Zeng, 2016 ; Adomako et al, 2022 ; Grasso et al, 2022 ). Also, the abiotic factors include the physical conditions of the culture (e.g., light intensity, photoperiod, and temperature) and the chemical composition of the culture medium (e.g., nitrogen source, salinity, N:P ratio, and CO 2 levels) ( Pathania and Srivastava, 2021 ).…”

“…The genes coding the enzymes of the phenylpropanoid/ flavonoid biosynthetic pathway were found by conducting a local BLAST search (Camacho et al, 2009) according to Del Mondo et al (2022). Sequences of 29 core enzymes acting in the phenylpropanoid/flavonoid biosynthetic pathway of plants and cyanobacteria from KEGG were used as queries to detect ortholog sequences in the complete genome of Synechococcus sp.…”

Transcriptomic and Phenomic Investigations Reveal Elements in Biofilm Repression and Formation in the Cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942

“…The robust formation of biofilms by the recent wild isolate S. elongatus UTEX 3055 demonstrates that biofilm formation of PCC 7942 mutants uncovers a process that is reversible in the natural environment ( Yang et al, 2018 ). Decades of laboratory culturing techniques, such as decanting, that subtly select for planktonic cells ( Golden, 2019 ) has likely domesticated the PCC 7942 WT strain into a biofilm-suppressed state through genetic drift or epigenetic changes, which now requires biofilm-inducing mutations to activate the biofilm program ( Adomako et al, 2022 ).…”