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1. Co‐culture with Synechococcus facilitates growth of Prochlorococcus under ocean acidification conditions

   https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.15277  

   Knight, Margaret A. ; Morris, J. Jeffrey ( October 2020 , Environmental Microbiology)

   Anthropogenic CO₂emissions are projected to lower the pH of the ocean 0.3 units by 2100. Previous studies suggested thatProchlorococcusandSynechococcus, the numerically dominant phytoplankton in the oceans, have different responses to elevated CO₂that may result in a dramatic shift in their relative abundances in future oceans. Here we showed that the exponential growth rates of these two genera respond to future CO₂conditions in a manner similar to other cyanobacteria, butProchlorococcusstrains had significantly lower realized growth rates under elevated CO₂regimes due to poor survival after exposure to fresh culture media. Despite this, aSynechococcusstrain was unable to outcompete aProchlorococcusstrain in co‐culture at elevated CO₂. Under these conditions,Prochlorococcus' poor response to elevated CO₂disappeared, andProchlorococcus'relative fitness showed negative frequency dependence, with both competitors having significant fitness advantages when initially rare. These experiments suggested that the two strains should be able to coexist indefinitely in co‐culture despite sharing nearly identical nutritional requirements. We speculate that negative frequency dependence exists due to reductive Black Queen evolution that has resulted in a passively mutualistic relationship analogous to that connectingProchlorococcuswith the ‘helper’ heterotrophic microbes in its environment.

    

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2. Molecular bases of an alternative dual-enzyme system for light color acclimation of marine Synechococcus cyanobacteria

   https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2019715118  

   Grébert, Théophile ; Nguyen, Adam A. ; Pokhrel, Suman ; Joseph, Kes Lynn ; Ratin, Morgane ; Dufour, Louison ; Chen, Bo ; Haney, Allissa M. ; Karty, Jonathan A. ; Trinidad, Jonathan C. ; et al ( February 2021 , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

   MarineSynechococcuscyanobacteria owe their ubiquity in part to the wide pigment diversity of their light-harvesting complexes. In open ocean waters, cells predominantly possess sophisticated antennae with rods composed of phycocyanin and two types of phycoerythrins (PEI and PEII). Some strains are specialized for harvesting either green or blue light, while others can dynamically modify their light absorption spectrum to match the dominant ambient color. This process, called type IV chromatic acclimation (CA4), has been linked to the presence of a small genomic island occurring in two configurations (CA4-A and CA4-B). While the CA4-A process has been partially characterized, the CA4-B process has remained an enigma. Here we characterize the function of two members of the phycobilin lyase E/F clan, MpeW and MpeQ, inSynechococcussp. strain A15-62 and demonstrate their critical role in CA4-B. While MpeW, encoded in the CA4-B island and up-regulated in green light, attaches the green light-absorbing chromophore phycoerythrobilin to cysteine-83 of the PEII α-subunit in green light, MpeQ binds phycoerythrobilin and isomerizes it into the blue light-absorbing phycourobilin at the same site in blue light, reversing the relationship of MpeZ and MpeY in the CA4-A strain RS9916. Our data thus reveal key molecular differences between the two types of chromatic acclimaters, both highly abundant but occupying distinct complementary ecological niches in the ocean. They also support an evolutionary scenario whereby CA4-B island acquisition allowed former blue light specialists to become chromatic acclimaters, while former green light specialists would have acquired this capacity by gaining a CA4-A island.

    

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3. Genome Sequence of the Estuarine Synechococcus sp. Strain NB0720_010

   https://doi.org/10.1128/mra.00151-22  

   MacKenzie, Campbell A. ; Marston, Marcia F. ; Tabima, Javier F. ; Ahlgren, Nathan A. ( August 2022 , Microbiology Resource Announcements)

   Thrash, J. Cameron (Ed.)

   ABSTRACT Marine Synechococcus spp. are unicellular cyanobacteria widely distributed in the world’s oceans. We report the complete genome sequence of Synechococcus sp. strain NB0720_010, isolated from Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. NB0702_10 has several large (>3,000-amino acid) protein-coding genes that may be important in its interactions with other cells, including grazers in estuarine habitats. 

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4. Production and cross-feeding of nitrite within Prochlorococcus populations

   https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.01236-23  

   Berube, Paul M. ; O'Keefe, Tyler J. ; Rasmussen, Anna ; LeMaster, Trent ; Chisholm, Sallie W. ( July 2023 , mBio)

   Dubilier, Nicole (Ed.)

   Prochlorococcusis an abundant photosynthetic bacterium in the open ocean, where nitrogen (N) often limits phytoplankton growth. In the low-light-adapted LLI clade ofProchlorococcus, nearly all cells can assimilate nitrite (NO₂⁻), with a subset capable of assimilating nitrate (NO₃⁻). LLI cells are maximally abundant near the primary NO₂⁻maximum layer, an oceanographic feature that may, in part, be due to incomplete assimilatory NO₃⁻reduction and subsequent NO₂⁻release by phytoplankton. We hypothesized that someProchlorococcusexhibit incomplete assimilatory NO₃⁻reduction and examined NO₂⁻accumulation in cultures of threeProchlorococcusstrains (MIT0915, MIT0917, and SB) and twoSynechococcusstrains (WH8102 and WH7803). Only MIT0917 and SB accumulated external NO₂⁻during growth on NO₃⁻. Approximately 20–30% of the NO₃⁻transported into the cell by MIT0917 was released as NO₂⁻, with the rest assimilated into biomass. We further observed that co-cultures using NO₃⁻as the sole N source could be established for MIT0917 andProchlorococcusstrain MIT1214 that can assimilate NO₂⁻but not NO₃⁻. In these co-cultures, the NO₂⁻released by MIT0917 is efficiently consumed by its partner strain, MIT1214. Our findings highlight the potential for emergent metabolic partnerships that are mediated by the production and consumption of N cycle intermediates withinProchlorococcuspopulations.

   Earth’s biogeochemical cycles are substantially driven by microorganisms and their interactions. Given that N often limits marine photosynthesis, we investigated the potential for N cross-feeding within populations ofProchlorococcus, the numerically dominant photosynthetic cell in the subtropical open ocean. In laboratory cultures, someProchlorococcuscells release extracellular NO₂⁻during growth on NO₃⁻. In the wild,Prochlorococcuspopulations are composed of multiple functional types, including those that cannot use NO₃⁻but can still assimilate NO₂⁻. We show that metabolic dependencies arise whenProchlorococcusstrains with complementary NO₂⁻production and consumption phenotypes are grown together on NO₃⁻. These findings demonstrate the potential for emergent metabolic partnerships, possibly modulating ocean nutrient gradients, that are mediated by cross-feeding of N cycle intermediates.

    

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5. Phototaxis in a wild isolate of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus

   https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1812871115  

   Yang, Yiling ; Lam, Vinson ; Adomako, Marie ; Simkovsky, Ryan ; Jakob, Annik ; Rockwell, Nathan C. ; Cohen, Susan E. ; Taton, Arnaud ; Wang, Jingtong ; Lagarias, J. Clark ; et al ( December 2018 , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

   Many cyanobacteria, which use light as an energy source via photosynthesis, have evolved the ability to guide their movement toward or away from a light source. This process, termed “phototaxis,” enables organisms to localize in optimal light environments for improved growth and fitness. Mechanisms of phototaxis have been studied in the coccoid cyanobacteriumSynechocystissp. strain PCC 6803, but the rod-shapedSynechococcus elongatusPCC 7942, studied for circadian rhythms and metabolic engineering, has no phototactic motility. In this study we report a recent environmental isolate ofS. elongatus, the strain UTEX 3055, whose genome is 98.5% identical to that of PCC 7942 but which is motile and phototactic. A six-gene operon encoding chemotaxis-like proteins was confirmed to be involved in phototaxis. Environmental light signals are perceived by a cyanobacteriochrome, PixJ_Se(Synpcc7942_0858), which carries five GAF domains that are responsive to blue/green light and resemble those of PixJ fromSynechocystis. Plate-based phototaxis assays indicate that UTEX 3055 uses PixJ_Seto sense blue and green light. Mutation of conserved functional cysteine residues in different GAF domains indicates that PixJ_Secontrols both positive and negative phototaxis, in contrast to the multiple proteins that are employed for implementing bidirectional phototaxis inSynechocystis.

    

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