Mechanism analysis of the extracellular polysaccharide formation form cyanobacteria

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24658090
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Applied biochemistry
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Uozumi Nobuyuki 東北大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (40223515)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: バイオフィルム / 光合成 / 多糖 / ポリアミン / ラン藻 / 輸送体 / 浸透圧 / 環境ストレス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Cyanobacteria are prokaryotic microorganisms that perform oxygenic photosynthesis and are adapted to a regular cycle of light and dark periods. We found that high salt stress led to the biofilm formation of the bacteria from planktonic cells. The morphological change reflects to the adaptation to the environmental changes. To better understand the molecular mechanism, we have examined the production of polyamine, which is related with cell growth, and signal transduction pathway. The polyamine synthetic enzymes were found to be involved in the biofilm formation. Some of histidine kinases also participate in the pathway to regulate the formation of biofilm. One of the histidine kinases in K uptake transport system acted as a component in response with salt stress. The expressions were regulated by biological clock, which that help to contribute to the survival of the cells living in a stressful, light-dark cycle environment.

Free Research Field

生物化学