Stress response in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

Sammanfattning: Adaptation to environmental changes is important for the survival of living organisms. Under extreme abiotic conditions, organic molecules (such as lipids, proteins and nucleic acids) are prone to damage. Under these conditions stress response mechanisms are activated, either to prevent the source of damage or to promote the rapid turnover of damaged molecules. Like all photoautotrophic organisms, cyanobacteria are sensitive to high light intensity and oxidative stress, which induces damage to the photosynthetic apparatus. My thesis is divided in two subjects related to particular stress responses in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803: 1) the role of Deg/HtrA proteases and 2) investigations on the small CAB-like proteins. Deg/HtrA proteases are ATP-independent serine endopeptidases with a characteristic C-terminal PDZ domain. These proteases are largely dispersed among living organisms, with many different functions, mostly involved in protein quality control. The genome of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 contains three genes coding for Deg/HtrA proteases: HtrA, HhoA and HhoB. These proteases are essential for survival under high light and heat stress, and may overlap in their functions. During my Ph.D. studies I focused on the identification of the precise localization of the Deg/HtrA proteases in the cyanobacterial cell, analyzed the biochemical properties of recombinant Synechocystis Deg/HtrA proteases in vitro and adopted proteomic and metabolomic approaches to study the physiological importance of these proteases. My data show that Deg/HtrA proteases are not only important in stress response mechanisms under adverse conditions, but are also involved in the stabilization of important physiological processes, such as polysaccharides biosynthesis and peptidoglycan turnover.The small CAB-like proteins (SCPs) belong to the light harvesting-like family of stress induced proteins and are thought to be involved in the photoprotection of the photosynthetic apparatus. Five small CAB-like proteins where identified in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 (ScpA-E). In my studies I identified another relative to the SCPs, LilA, which I found to be co-transcribed with ScpD. I also focused on the subcellular localization and identification of potential interaction partners of the SCPs.