Cold temperatures lead to nullification of circadian rhythms in many organisms. Two typical scenarios explain the disappearance of rhythmicity: the first is oscillation death, which is the transition from self-sustained oscillation to damped oscillation that occurs at a critical temperature. The second scenario is oscillation arrest, in which oscillation terminates at a certain phase. In the field of nonlinear dynamics, these mechanisms are called the Hopf bifurcation and the saddle-node on an invariant circle bifurcation, respectively. Although these mechanisms lead to distinct dynamical properties near the critical temperature, it is unclear to which scenario the circadian clock belongs. Here we reduced the temperature to dampen the reconstituted circadian rhythm of phosphorylation of the recombinant cyanobacterial clock protein KaiC. The data led us to conclude that Hopf bifurcation occurred at similar to 19 degrees C. Below this critical temperature, the self-sustained rhythms of KaiC phosphorylation transformed to damped oscillations, which are predicted by the Hopf bifurcation theory. Moreover, we detected resonant oscillations below the critical temperature when temperature was periodically varied, which was reproduced by numerical simulations. Our findings suggest that the transition to a damped oscillation through Hopf bifurcation contributes to maintaining the circadian rhythm of cyanobacteria through resonance at cold temperatures.

Background: Most organisms, especially photoautotrophs, alter their behaviours in response to day-night alternations adaptively because of their great reliance on light. Upon light-to-dark transition, dramatic and universal decreases in transcription level of the majority of the genes in the genome of the unicellular cyanobacterium, Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 are observed. Because Synechococcus is an obligate photoautotroph, it has been generally assumed that repression of the transcription in the dark (dark repression) would be caused by a nocturnal decrease in photosynthetic activities through the reduced availability of energy (e.g. adenosine triphosphate (ATP)) needed for mRNA synthesis.
Results: However, against this general assumption, we obtained evidence that the rapid and dynamic dark repression is an active process. Although the addition of photosynthesis inhibitors to cells exposed to light mimicked transcription profiles in the dark, it did not significantly affect the cellular level of ATP. By contrast, when ATP levels were decreased by the inhibition of both photosynthesis and respiration, the transcriptional repression was attenuated through inhibition of RNA degradation. This observation indicates that Synechococcus actively downregulates genome-wide transcription in the dark. Even though the level of total mRNA dramatically decreased in the dark, Synechococcus cells were still viable, and they do not need de novo transcription for their survival in the dark for at least 48 hours.
Conclusions: Dark repression appears to enable cells to enter into nocturnal dormancy as a feed-forward process, which would be advantageous for their survival under periodic nocturnal conditions.

The filamentous cyanobacterium, Anabaena sp. PCC 7120, is one of the simplest models of a multicellular system showing cellular differentiation. In nitrogen-deprived culture, undifferentiated vegetative cells differentiate into heterocysts at similar to 10-cell intervals along the cellular filament. As undifferentiated cells divide, the number of cells between heterocysts (segment length) increases, and a new heterocyst appears in the intermediate region.
To understand how the heterocyst pattern is formed and maintained, we constructed a one-dimensional cellular automaton (CA) model of the heterocyst pattern formation. The dynamics of vegetative cells is modeled by a stochastic transition process including cell division, differentiation and increase of cell age (maturation). Cell division and differentiation depend on the time elapsed after the last cell division, the "cell age". The model dynamics was mathematically analyzed by a two-step Markov approximation. In the first step, we determined steady state of cell age distribution among vegetative cell population. In the second step, we determined steady state distribution of segment length among segment population. The analytical solution was consistent with the results of numerical simulations. We then compared the analytical solution with the experimental data, and quantitatively estimated the immeasurable intercellular kinetics. We found that differentiation is initially independent of cellular maturation, but becomes dependent on maturation as the pattern formation evolves. Our mathematical model and analysis enabled us to quantify the internal cellular dynamics at various stages of the heterocyst pattern formation. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cyanobacteria are unique organisms with remarkably stable circadian oscillations. These are controlled by a network architecture that comprises two regulatory factors: posttranslational oscillation (PTO) and a transcription/translation feedback loop (TTFL). The clock proteins KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC are essential for the circadian rhythm of the unicellular species Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942. Temperature-compensated autonomous cycling of KaiC phosphorylation has been proposed as the primary oscillator mechanism that maintains the circadian clock, even in the dark, and it controls genome-wide gene expression rhythms under continuous-light conditions (LL). However, the kaiC(EE) mutation (where "EE" represents the amino acid changes Ser431Glu and Thr432Glu), where phosphorylation cycling does not occur in vivo, has a damped but clear kaiBC expression rhythm with a long period. This suggests that there must be coupling between the robust PTO and the "slave" unstable TTFL. Here, we found that the kaiC(EE) mutant strain in LL was hypersensitive to the dark acclimation required for phase shifting. Twenty-three percent of the genes in the kaiC(EE) mutant strain exhibited genome-wide transcriptional rhythms with a period of 48 h in LL. The circadian phase distribution was also conserved significantly in most of the wild-type and kaiC(EE) mutant strain cycling genes, which suggests that the output mechanism was not damaged severely even in the absence of KaiC phosphorylation cycles. These results strongly suggest that the KaiC phosphorylation cycle is not essential for generating the genome-wide rhythm under light conditions, whereas it is important for appropriate circadian timing in the light and dark.

This is a hybrid installation that creates an interface between people and cyanobacteria. The project integrates the photosynthetic activity of these microorganisms, the dynamics of environmental light and the bioelectrical activity of the participants. Using cell culture and computer vision, this work renders the photosynthetic activity of cyanobacteria in the form of an organic structure. It also produces dynamic geometries of solar energy by analysing environmental data. Simultaneously, this work transforms the activity of the nervous system of each participant into 'light' to stimulate the cells. As a result, visitors and cyanobacteria influence each other giving subsistence to a dynamic feedback system.

Circadian rhythms are endogenous biological timing processes that are ubiquitous in organisms ranging from cyanobacteria to humans. In the photoautotrophic unicellular cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942, under continuous light (LL) conditions, the transcription-translation feedback loop (TTFL) of KaiC generates a rhythmic change in the accumulation of KaiC relative to KaiA clock proteins (KaiC/KaiA ratio), which peak and trough at subjective dawn and dusk, respectively. However, the role of TTFL in the cyanobacterial circadian system remains unclear because it is not an essential requirement for the basic oscillation driven by the Kai-based posttranslational oscillator (PTO) and the transcriptional output mechanisms. Here, we show that TTFL is important for the circadian photic resetting property in Synechococcus. The robustness of PTO, which is exemplified by the amplitude of the KaiC phosphorylation cycle, changed depending on the KaiC/KaiA ratio, which was cyclic under LL. After cells were transferred from LL to the dark, the clock protein levels remained constant in the dark. When cells were transferred from LL to continuous dark at subjective dawn, the KaiC phosphorylation cycle was attenuated with a lower KaiC/KaiA ratio, a higher KaiC phosphorylation level, and a lower amplitude than that in cells transferred at subjective dusk. We also found that the greater the degree to which PTO was attenuated in continuous dark, the greater the phase shifts upon the subsequent light exposure. Based on these results, we propose that TTFL enhances resetting of the Kai-based PTO in Synechococcus.

Background: The cyanobacterial circadian program exerts genome-wide control of gene expression. KaiC undergoes rhythms of phosphorylation that are regulated by interactions with KaiA and KaiB. The phosphorylation status of KaiC is thought to mediate global transcription via output factors SasA, CikA, LabA, RpaA, and RpaB. Overexpression of kaiC has been reported to globally repress gene expression.
Results: Here, we show that the positive circadian component KaiA upregulates "subjective dusk" genes and that its overexpression deactivates rhythmic gene expression without significantly affecting growth rates in constant light. We analyze the global patterns of expression that are regulated by KaiA versus KaiC and find in contrast to the previous report of KaiC repression that there is a "yin-yang" regulation of gene expression whereby kaiA overexpression activates "dusk genes" and represses "dawn genes," whereas kaiC overexpression complementarily activates dawn genes and represses dusk genes. Moreover, continuous induction of kaiA latched KaiABC-regulated gene expression to provide constitutively increased transcript levels of diverse endogenous and heterologous genes that are expressed in the predominant subjective dusk phase. In addition to analyzing KaiA regulation of endogenous gene expression, we apply these insights to the expression of heterologous proteins whose products are of potential value, namely human proinsulin, foreign luciferase, and exogenous hydrogenase.
Conclusions: Both KaiC and KaiA complementarily contribute to the regulation of circadian gene expression via yin-yang switching. Circadian patterns can be reprogrammed by overexpression of kaiA or kaiC to constitutively enhance gene expression, and this reprogramming can improve 24/7 production of heterologous proteins that are useful as pharmaceuticals or biofuels.

The filamentous, heterocystous cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 is one of the simplest multicellular organisms that show both morphological pattern formation with cell differentiation (heterocyst formation) and circadian rhythms. Therefore, it potentially provides an excellent model in which to analyze the relationship between circadian functions and multicellularity. However, detailed cyanobacterial circadian regulation has been intensively analyzed only in the unicellular species Synechococcus elongatus. In contrast to the highest-amplitude cycle in Synechococcus, we found that none of the kai genes in Anabaena showed high-amplitude expression rhythms. Nevertheless, similar to 80 clock-controlled genes were identified. We constructed luciferase reporter strains to monitor the expression of some high-amplitude genes. The bioluminescence rhythms satisfied the three criteria for circadian oscillations and were nullified by genetic disruption of the kai gene cluster. In heterocysts, in which photosystem II is turned off, the metabolic and redox states are different from those in vegetative cells, although these conditions are thought to be important for circadian entrainment and timekeeping processes. Here, we demonstrate that circadian regulation is active in heterocysts, as shown by the finding that heterocyst-specific genes, such as all1427 and hesAB, are expressed in a robust circadian fashion exclusively without combined nitrogen.

One of the key characteristics of all circadian rhythms is that the free-running period remains stable under a relatively broad range of ambient temperatures, referred to as "temperature compensation" of the period. Outside of the range of temperature compensation, circadian clocks stop running and are arrested at a certain phase. Based on bifurcation theory, Hopf bifurcation and saddle-node bifurcation are plausible scenarios of circadian arrhythmia at low temperature. We focused on a biochemical circadian oscillation, KaiC phosphorylation rhythms, which can be reconstituted in a test tube by mixing the three protines, KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC in the presence of ATP. The KaiC phosphorylation rhythm in vitro is the simplest circadian oscillation to observe directly and precisely dynamics of circadian oscillator. We found that the phenomena of nullification of KaiC phosphorylation rhythm by low temperature was explained by theory of Hopf bifurcation.

The objective of our research was to predict cell fates of a multicellular system, accompanied by cellular differentiation. To fulfill this objective, we sought to distinguish the differentiated and undifferentiated cells of filamentous cyanobacteria (Anabaena sp. PCC 7120) using Raman imaging. This technique indicated Raman bands of the cellular system, in which several bands were assigned to vibrations of beta-carotene and scytonemin. We applied principal component analysis (PCA) to the Raman spectra to determine the PC1 and PC2 loading plots and their scores. The data points obtained for heterocyst tended to converge along the bottom of the scatterplot whereas those for vegetative cells were more widely distributed in the PC plane. This indicates that the chemical compositions of a heterocyst were relatively stable. As vegetative cells are capable of proliferation or differentiation, they may transit and exist in several states including the pseudo-differentiated state. The results suggest that the chemical compositions of a vegetative cell fluctuated according to its cellular condition. In conclusion, the results of Raman imaging indicate that the diverse states of vegetative cells are localized in a specific state through differentiation.

The circadian clock of cyanobacteria is composed of KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC proteins, and the SasA-RpaA two-component system has been implicated in the regulation of one of the output pathways of the clock. In this study, we show that another response regulator that is essential for viability, the RpaA paralog, RpaB, plays a central role in the transcriptional oscillation of clock-regulated genes. In vivo and in vitro analyses revealed that RpaB and not RpaA could specifically bind to the kaiBC promoter, possibly repressing transcription during subjective night. This suggested that binding may be terminated by RpaA to activate gene transcription during subjective day. Moreover, we found that rpoD6 and sigF2, which encode group-2 and group-3 sigma factors forRNApolymerase, respectively, were also targets of the RpaAB system, suggesting that a specific group of sigma factors can propagate genome-wide transcriptional oscillation. Our findings thus reveal a novel mechanism for a circadian output pathway that is mediated by two paralogous response regulators.

Circadian rhythms are a fundamental property of most organisms, from cyanobacteria to humans. In the unicellular obligately photoautotrophic cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942, essentially all promoter activities are controlled by the KaiABC-based clock under continuous light conditions. When Synechococcus cells are transferred from the light to continuous dark (DD) conditions, the expression of most genes, including the clock genes kaiA and kaiBC, is rapidly down-regulated, whereas the KaiC phosphorylation cycle persists. Therefore, we speculated that the posttranslational oscillator might not drive the transcriptional circadian output without de novo expression of the kai genes. Here we show that the cyanobacterial clock regulates the transcriptional output even in the dark. The expression of a subset of genes in the genomes of cells grown in the dark was dramatically affected by kaiABC nullification, and the magnitude of dark induction was dependent on the time at which the cells were transferred from the light to the dark. Moreover, under DD conditions, the expression of some dark-induced gene transcripts exhibited temperature-compensated damped oscillations, which were nullified in kaiABC-null strains and were affected by a kaiC period mutation. These results indicate that the Kai protein-based posttranslational oscillator can drive the circadian transcriptional output even without the de novo expression of the clock genes.

In the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942, the central oscillator of the circadian system consists of three genes (kaiA, kaiB, kaiC) and their protein products. In the presence of ATP, the interactions among these proteins drive a temperature-compensated circadian rhythm of KaiC phosphorylation in vitro. The temporal information from this protein-based chemical oscillator regulates expression from essentially all gene promoters in vivo. Some insights have been reported that describe key factors involved in the transduction of temporal information from the central oscillator via circadian output pathways. Moreover, recent studies have demonstrated that the rhythm in gene transcription is sustained, even in the absence of rhythmic KaiC phosphorylation, suggesting that several interconnected output pathways are integrated into the robust circadian oscillatory system in cyanobacteria.

In the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942, essentially all promoter activities are under the control of the circadian clock under continuous light (LL) conditions. Here, we used high-density oligonucleotide arrays to explore comprehensive profiles of genome-wide Synechococcus gene expression in wild-type, kaiABC-null, and kaiC-overexpressor strains under LL and continuous dark (DD) conditions. In the wild-type strains, > 30% of transcripts oscillated significantly in a circadian fashion, peaking at subjective dawn and dusk. Such circadian control was severely attenuated in kaiABC-null strains. Although it has been proposed that KaiC globally represses gene expression, our analysis revealed that dawn-expressed genes were up-regulated by kaiC-overexpression so that the clock was arrested at subjective dawn. Transfer of cells to DD conditions from LL immediately suppressed expression of most of the genes, while the clock kept even time in the absence of transcriptional feedback. Thus, the Synechococcus genome seems to be primarily regulated by light/dark cycles and is dramatically modified by the protein-based circadian oscillator.

Diazotrophic heterocyst formation in the filamentous cyanobacterium, Anabaena sp. PCC 7120, is one of the simplest pattern formations known to occur in cell differentiation. Most previous studies on heterocyst patterning were based on statistical analysis using cells collected or observed at different times from a liquid culture, which would mask stochastic fluctuations affecting the process of pattern formation dynamics in a single bacterial filament. In order to analyze the spatiotemporal dynamics of heterocyst formation at the single filament level, here we developed a culture system to monitor simultaneously bacterial development, gene expression, and phycobilisome fluorescence. We also developed micro-liquid chamber arrays to analyze multiple Anabaena filaments at the same time. Cell lineage analyses demonstrated that the initial distributions of hetR::gfp and phycobilisome fluorescence signals at nitrogen step-down were not correlated with the resulting distribution of developed heterocysts. Time-lapse observations also revealed a dynamic hetR expression profile at the single-filament level, including transient upregulation accompanying cell division, which did not always lead to heterocyst development. In addition, some cells differentiated into heterocysts without cell division after nitrogen step-down, suggesting that cell division in the mother cells is not an essential requirement for heterocyst differentiation.

The use of synthetic biology to design artificial gene circuits is an important approach for understanding the principles underlying the complicated dynamic behaviours of biomolecular networks, such as genetic switching and biological rhythms. The synthetic approach is also useful in systems biology in that it can be used to create artificial bypasses for processes related to cellular phenomena of interest for their easier analysis. To validate the role of transcription feedback in the cyanobacterial circadian system, we propose an experimental design for a 'semi-synthetic' approach that involves transplantation of the kaiABC genes into Escherichia coli and the construction of chimeric transcriptional outputs. The design principle and preliminary results are discussed. Copyright © 2008 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

In the cyanobacterium, Synechococcus elongatus, most promoters are regulated by a circadian clock under continuous light (LL) conditions. Nevertheless, the basic circadian oscillation is primarily generated by alternating KaiC phosphorylation/dephosphorylation reactions at the posttranslational level. Indeed, the KaiC phosphorylation cycle was recently reconstituted in vitro by incubating KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC proteins with ATP. However, the molecular dynamics of this chemical oscillation and the mechanism that drives the circadian transcription/translation rhythms remain unknown. In this report, the KaiC phosphorylation cycle and the gene regulatory network in the cyanobacterial circadian system have been modeled. The model reproduces the robust KaiC phosphorylation cycle in the absence of de novo gene expression as is observed in vitro, as well as its coupling to transcriptional/translational feedback in LL conditions in vivo. Moreover, the model is consistent with most previous experiments, including various combinations of genetic knockout or overexpression of kai genes. It also predicts that multiple KaiC phosphorylation states and dynamic Kai protein interactions may be required for the cyanobacterial circadian system.

Among the sigma(70) family bacterial sigma factors, group 2 sigma factors have similar promoter recognition specificity to group 1 (principal) sigma factors and express and function under specific environmental and physiological conditions. In general, the cyanobacterial genome encodes more than four group 2 sigma factors, and the unicellular Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 (Synechococcus) has five group 2 sigma factors (RpoD2 - 6). In this study, we analyzed expression of group 2 sigma factors of Synechococcus at both mRNA and protein levels, and we showed that the rpoD3 expression was activated only by high light (1,500 mu mol photons m(-2) s(-1)) among the various stress conditions examined. After high light shift, rpoD3 mRNA accumulated transiently within the first 5 min and diminished subsequently, whereas RpoD3 protein increased gradually during the first several hours. We also found that the rpoD3 deletion mutant rapidly lost viability under the same conditions. Analysis of the rpoD3 promoter structure revealed the presence of an HLR1 (high light-responsive element 1) sequence, which was suggested to be responsible for the high light-induced transcription under the control of the Nb1S (histidine kinase)-RpaB ( response regulator) two-component system (Kappell, A. D., and van Waasbergen, L. G. (2007) Arch. Microbiol. 187, 337 - 342), at +6 to +23 with respect to the transcriptional start site. Here we demonstrated that recombinant RpaB protein specifically bound to HLR1 of the rpoD3 and hliA genes in vitro, and overexpression of a truncated RpaB variant harboring only the phosphoreceiver domain derepressed the transcription in vivo. Thus, we have concluded that phosphorylated RpaB are repressing the rpoD3 and hliA transcription under normal growth conditions, and the RpaB dephosphorylation induced by high light stress results in transcriptional derepression.

The use of synthetic biology to design artificial gene circuits is an important approach for understanding the principles underlying the complicated dynamic behaviors of biomolecular networks, such as genetic switching and biological rhythms. The synthetic approach is also useful in systems biology in that it can be used to create artificial bypasses for processes related to cellular phenomena of interest for their easier analysis. To validate the role of transcription feedback in the cyanobacterial circadian system, we propose an experimental design for such a "semi-synthetic" approach that involves transplantation of the kaiABC genes into Escherichia coli and the construction of chimeric transcriptional outputs. The design principle and some preliminary results have been reported.

KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC clock proteins from cyanobacteria and ATP are sufficient to reconstitute the KaiC phosphorylation rhythm in vitro, whereas almost all gene promoters are under the control of the circadian clock. The mechanism by which the KaiC phosphorylation cycle drives global transcription rhythms is unknown. Here, we report that RpaA, a potential DNA-binding protein that acts as a cognate response regulator of the KaiC-interacting kinase SasA, mediates between KaiC phosphorylation and global transcription rhythms. Circadian transcription was severely attenuated in sasA (Synechococcus adaptive sensor A)- and rpaA (regulator of phycobilisome-associated)-mutant cells, and the phosphotransfer activity from SasA to RpaA changed dramatically depending on the circadian state of a coexisting Kai protein complex in vitro. We propose a model in which the SasA-RpaA two-component system mediates time signals from the enzymatic oscillator to drive genome-wide transcription rhythms in cyanobacteria. Moreover, our results indicate the presence of secondary output pathways from the clock to transcription control, suggesting that multiple pathways ensure a genome-wide circadian system.

KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC are essential proteins of the circadian clock in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942. The phosphorylation cycle of KaiC that occurs in vitro after mixing the three proteins and ATP is thought to be the master oscillation governing the circadian system. We analyzed the temporal profile of complexes formed between the three Kai proteins. In the phosphorylation phase, KaiA actively and repeatedly associated with KaiC to promote KaiC phosphorylation. High levels of phosphorylation of KaiC induced the association of the KaiC hexamer with KaiB and inactivate KaiA to begin the dephosphorylation phase, which is closely linked to shuffling of the monomeric KaiC subunits among the hexamer. By reducing KaiC phosphorylation, KaiB dissociated from KaiC, reactivating KaiA. We also confirmed that a similar model can be applied in cyanobacterial cells. The molecular model proposed here provides mechanisms for circadian timing systems.

Kai proteins globally regulate circadian gene expression of cyanobacteria. The KaiC phosphorylation cycle, which persists even without transcription or translation, is assumed to be a basic timing process of the circadian clock. We have reconstituted the self-sustainable oscillation of KaiC phosphorylation in vitro by incubating KaiC with KaiA, KaiB, and adenosine triphosphate. The period of the in vitro oscillation was stable despite temperature change (temperature compensation), and the circadian periods observed in vivo in KaiC mutant strains were consistent with those measured in vitro. The enigma of the circadian clock can now be studied in vitro by examining the interactions between three Kai proteins.

An autoregulatory transcription-translation feedback loop is thought to be essential in generating circadian rhythms in any model organism. In the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus, the essential clock protein KaiC is proposed to form this type of transcriptional negative feedback. Nevertheless, we demonstrate here temperature-compensated, robust circadian cycling of KaiC phosphorylation even without kaiBC messenger RNA accumulation under continuous dark conditions. This rhythm persisted in the presence of a transcription or translation inhibitor. Moreover, kinetic profiles in the ratio of KaiC autophosphorylation-dephosphorylation were also temperature compensated in vitro. Thus, the cyanobacterial clock can keep time independent of de novo transcription. and translation processes.

In the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942, KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC are essential proteins for the generation of a circadian rhythm. KaiC is proposed as a negative regulator of the circadian expression of all genes in the genome, and its phosphorylation is regulated positively by KaiA and negatively by KaiB and shows a circadian rhythm in vivo. To study the functions of KaiC phosphorylation in the circadian clock system, we identified two autophosphorylation sites, Ser-431 and Thr-432, by using mass spectrometry (MS). We generated Synechococcus mutants in which these residues were substituted for alanine by using site-directed mutagenesis. Phosphorylation of KaiC was reduced in the single mutants and was completely abolished in the double mutant, indicating that KaiC is also phosphorylated at these sites in vivo. These mutants lost circadian rhythm, indicating that phosphorylation at each of the two sites is essential for the control of the circadian oscillation. Although the nonphosphorylatable mutant KaiC was able to form a hexamer in vitro, it failed to form a clock protein complex with KaiA, KaiB, and SasA in the Synechococcus cells. When nonphosphorylatable KaiC was overexpressed, the kaiBC promoter activity was only transiently repressed. These results suggest that KaiC phosphorylation regulates its transcriptional repression activity by controlling its binding affinity for other clock proteins.

A kaiABC clock gene cluster was previously identified from cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942, and the feedback regulation of kai genes was proposed as the core mechanism generating circadian oscillation. In this study, we confirmed that the Kai-based oscillator is the dominant circadian oscillator functioning in cyanobacteria. We probed the nature of this regulation and found that excess KaiC represses not only kaiBC but also the rhythmic components of all genes in the genome. This result strongly suggests that the KaiC protein primarily coordinates genomewide gene expression, including its own expression. We also found that a promoter derived from E. coli is feedback controlled by KaiC and restores the complete circadian rhythm in kaiBC-inactivated arrhythmic mutants, provided it can express kaiB and kaiC genes at an appropriate level. Unlike eukaryotic models, specific regulation of the kaiBC promoter is not essential for cyanobacterial circadian oscillations.

In the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942, the KaiA, KaiB and KaiC proteins are essential for generation of circadian rhythms. We quantitatively analyzed the intracellular dynamics of these proteins and found a circadian rhythm in the membrane/cytosolic localization of KaiB, such that KaiB interacts with a KaiA-KaiC complex during the late subjective night. KaiB-KaiC binding is accompanied by a dramatic reduction in KaiC phosphorylation and followed by dissociation of the clock protein complex(es). KaiB attenuated KaiA-enhanced phosphorylation both in vitro and in vivo. Based on these results, we propose a novel role for KaiB in a regulatory link among subcellular localization, protein-protein interactions and post-translational modification of Kai proteins in the cyanobacterial clock system.

Physical interactions among clock-related proteins KaiA, KaiB, KaiC, and SasA are proposed to be important for circadian function in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942. Here we show that the Kai proteins and SasA form heteromultimeric protein complexes dynamically in a circadian fashion. KaiC forms protein complexes of similar to350 and 400-600 kDa during the subjective day and night, respectively, and serves as a core of the circadian protein complexes. This change in the size of the KaiC-containing complex is accompanied by nighttime-specific interaction of KaiA and KaiB with KaiC. In various arrhythmic mutants that lack each functional Kai protein or SasA circadian rhythms in formation of the clock protein complex are abolished, and the size of the protein complexes is dramatically affected. Thus, circadian-regulated formation of the clock protein complexes is probably a critical process in the generation of circadian rhythm in cyanobacteria.

Cyanobacterial clock proteins KaiA and KaiC are proposed as positive and negative regulators in the autoregulatory circadian kaiBC expression, respectively. Here, we show that activation of kaiBC expression by kaiA requires KaiC, suggesting a positive feedback control in the cyanobacterial clockwork. We found that robust circadian phosphorylation of KaiC. KaiA was essential for in vivo KaiC phosphorylation and activated in vitro KaiC autophosphorylation. These effects of KaiA were attenuated by the kaiA2 long period mutation. Both the long period phenotype and the abnormal KaiC phosphorylation in this mutant were suppressed by a previously undocumented kaiC mutation. We propose that KaiA-stimulated circadian KaiC phosphorylation is important for circadian timing.

Both regulated expression of the clock genes kaiA, kaiB, and kaiC and interactions among the Kai proteins are proposed to be important for circadian function in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp, strain PCC 7942. We have identified the histidine kinase SasA as a KaiC-interacting protein. SasA contains a KaiB-like sensory domain, which appears sufficient for interaction with KaiC. Disruption of the sasA gene lowered kaiBC expression and dramatically reduced amplitude of the kai expression rhythms while shortening the period. Accordingly, sasA disruption attenuated circadian expression patterns of all tested genes, some of which became arrhythmic. Continuous sasA overexpression eliminated circadian rhythms, whereas temporal overexpression changed the phase of kaiBC expression rhythm. Thus, SasA is a close associate of the cyanobacterial clock that is necessary to sustain robust circadian rhythms.

A negative feedback control of kaiC expression by KaiC protein has been proposed to generate a basic oscillation of the circadian clock in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp, PCC 7942, KaiC has two P loops or Walker's motif As, that are potential ATP-/GTP-binding motifs and DXXG motifs conserved in various GTP-binding proteins. Herein, we demonstrate that in vitro KaiC binds ATP and, with lower affinity, GTP, Point mutation by site-directed mutagenesis of P loop 1 completely nullified the circadian rhythm of kaiBC expression and markedly reduced ATP-binding activity. Moreover, KaiC can be autophosphorylated in vitro. These results suggest that the nucleotide-binding activity of KaiC plays important roles in the generation of circadian oscillation in cyanobacteria.

The kai gene cluster, which is composed of three genes, kaiA, kaiB and kaiC, is essential for the generation of circadian rhythms in the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp, strain PCC 7942. Here we demonstrate the direct association of KaiA, KaiB and KaiC in yeast cells using the two-hybrid system, in vitro and in cyanobacterial cells. KaiC enhanced KaiA-KaiB interaction iii vitro and in yeast cells, suggesting that the three Kai proteins were able to form a heteromultimeric complex. We also found that a long period mutation kaiA1 dramatically enhanced KaiA-KaiB interaction in vitro. Thus, direct protein-protein association among the Kai proteins may be a critical process in the generation of circadian rhythms in cyanobacteria.

Cyanobacteria are the simplest organisms known to have a circadian clock. A circadian crock gene cluster kaiABC was cloned from the cyanobacterium Synechococcus. Nineteen clock mutations were mapped to the three kai genes. Promoter activities upstream of the kaiA and kaiB genes showed circadian rhythms of expression, and both kaiA and kaiBC messenger RNAs displayed circadian cycling. inactivation of any single kai gene abolished these rhythms and reduced kaiBC-promoter activity. Continuous kaiC overexpression repressed the kaiBC promoter, whereas kaiA overexpression enhanced it. Temporal kaiC overexpression reset the phase of the rhythms. Thus, a negative feedback control of kaiC expression by KaiC generates a circadian oscillation in cyanobacteria, and KaiA sustains the oscillation by enhancing kaiC expression.

ABSTRACT

Colony pattern formations of bacteria with motility manifest complicated morphological self-organization phenomena. Leptolyngbya boryana is a filamentous cyanobacterium, which has been used as a genetic model organism for studying metabolism including photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation. A widely used type strain [wild type (WT) in this article] of this species has not been reported to show any motile activity. However, we isolated a spontaneous mutant strain that shows active motility (gliding activity) to give rise to complicated colony patterns, including comet-like wandering clusters and disk-like rotating vortices on solid media. Whole-genome resequencing identified multiple mutations in the genome of the mutant strain. We confirmed that inactivation of the candidate gene dgc2 ( LBDG_02920 ) in the WT background was sufficient to give rise to motility and morphologically complex colony patterns. This gene encodes a protein containing the GGDEF motif which is conserved at the catalytic domain of diguanylate cyclase (DGC). Although DGC has been reported to be involved in biofilm formation, the dgc2 mutant significantly facilitated biofilm formation, suggesting a role for the dgc2 gene in suppressing both gliding motility and biofilm formation. Thus, Leptolyngbya is expected to be an excellent genetic model for studying dynamic colony pattern formation and to provide novel insights into the role of DGC family genes in biofilm formation.

IMPORTANCE

Self-propelled bacteria often exhibit complex collective behaviors, such as formation of dense-moving clusters, which are exemplified by wandering comet-like and rotating disk-like colonies; however, the molecular details of how these structures are formed are scant. We found that a strain of the filamentous cyanobacterium Leptolyngbya deficient in the GGDEF protein gene dgc2 elicits motility and complex and dynamic colony pattern formation, including comet-like and disk-like clusters. Although c-di-GMP has been reported to activate biofilm formation in some bacterial species, disruption of dgc2 unexpectedly enhanced it, suggesting a novel role for this GGDEF protein for inhibiting both colony pattern formation and biofilm formation.

Diverse organisms time their cellular activities to occur at distinct phases of Earth's solar day, not through the direct regulation of these processes by light and darkness but rather through the use of an internal biological (circadian) clock that is synchronized with the external cycle. Input pathways serve as mechanisms to transduce external cues to a circadian oscillator to maintain synchrony between this internal oscillation and the environment. The circadian input pathway in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 requires the kinase CikA. A cikA null mutant exhibits a short cireadian period, the inability to reset its clock in response to pulses of darkness, and a defect in cell division. Although CikA is copurified with the Kai proteins that constitute the circadian central oscillator, no direct interaction between CikA and either KaiA, KaiB, or KaiC has been demonstrated. Here, we identify four proteins that may help connect CikA with the oscillator. Phenotypic analyses of null and overexpression alleles demonstrate that these proteins are involved in at least one of the functions-circadian period regulation, phase resetting, and cell division-attributed to CikA. Predictions based on sequence similarity suggest that these proteins function through protein phosphorylation, iron-sulfur cluster biosynthesis, and redox regulation. Collectively, these results suggest a model for circadian input that incorporates proteins that link the circadian clock, metabolism, and cell division.

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Cyanobacteria are the simplest organisms known to exhibit circadian rhythms and have provided experimental model systems for the dissection of basic properties of circadian organization at the molecular, physiological, and ecological levels. This review focuses on the molecular and genetic mechanisms of circadian rhythm generation in cyanobacteria. Recent analyses have revealed the existence of multiple feedback processes in the prokaryotic circadian system and have led to a novel molecular oscillator model. Here, the authors summarize current understanding of, and open questions about, the cyanobacterial oscillator.

A circadian rhythm in the accumulation of the core clock protein KaiC has been proposed to be important for proper circadian timing in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 under continuous light conditions. Cycling in the abundance of the KaiC protein is delayed to the rhythm of its mRNA by similar to8 h, consistent with the proposed function of KaiC as a negative feedback regulator of kaiBC transcription. Here, we present temporal profiles of the synthesis and degradation of KaiC protein that determine the rhythm of its accumulation. The rate of KaiC synthesis shows a robust circadian oscillation, which is delayed to the mRNA rhythm slightly and advances the rhythm of KaiC accumulation by similar to6 h. The stability of KaiC protein also shows circadian fluctuations, such that KaiC degradation is suppressed during the mid-subjective night. These results suggest that transcriptional, translational, and posttranslational processes are important for the proper circadian changes in KaiC accumulation. Moreover, the turnovers of the phosphorylated and non-phosphorylated forms of KaiC show robust circadian rhythms with an anti-phase relationship to each other. Interestingly, when translation was inhibited, KaiC degradation and phosphorylation proceeded within at least 4 h in a circadian phase-dependent manner. Thus, the circadian timing seems flexible even when any perturbation in protein synthesis occurs.

Circadian rhythms, endogenous biological oscillations with a period of about a day, have been observed in innumerable physiological processes in most of organisms from cyanobacteria to higher plants and mammals. These rhythms are thought to be adaptive to daily environmental changes on the earth. These rhythms are daily fluctuations in cellular, physiological, and behavioral parameters, which are observed ubiquitously in many organisms. The circadian system is composed schematically of a central oscillator and inputs to and outputs from the clock. The cyanobacterium is the simplest organism known to harbor circadian clocks, and now becomes one of most successful model organisms for comprehensive understanding the oscillatory system at the molecular level. Molecular genetic studies on circadian clocks in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus identified two histidine kinases, SasA, and CikA. SasA interacts with a well-established clock protein KaiC and is necessary to sustain robust circadian oscillation, whereas CikA functions in a photic input pathway to the clock. Thus, multiple His-to-Asp signaling pathways are likely to play important roles in the Synechococcus circadian system. © 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

kaiABC, a gene cluster, encodes KaiA, KaiB and KaiC proteins that are essential to circadian rhythms in the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. strain PCC 7942. Kai proteins can interact with each other in all possible combinations. This study identified two KaiA-binding domains (C-KABD1 and C-KABD2) in KaiC at corresponding regions of its duplicated structure. Clerk mutations on the two domains and kaiA altered the strength of C-KABD-KaiA interactions assayed by the yeast two-hybrid system. Thus, interaction between KaiA and KaiC through C-KABD1 and C-KABD2 is likely important for circadian timing in the cyanobacterium. (C) 2001 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Circadian rhythms have been observed in innumerable physiological processes in most of organisms. Recent molecular and genetic studies on circadian clocks in many organisms have identified and characterized several molecular regulatory factors that contribute to generation of such rhythms. The cyanobacterium is the simplest organism known to harbor circadian clocks, and it has become one of most successful model organisms for circadian biology In this review, we will briefly summarize physiological observations and consideration of circadian rhythms in cyanobacteria, molecular genetics of the clock using Synechococcus, and current knowledge of the input and output pathways that support the cellular circadian system. Finally, we will document some current problems in the studies on the cyanobacterial circadian clock.

Interactions of wild-type and Tyr83 mutant (Ys3F, Y83S, Y83L, and Y83H) plastocyanins (PCs) with lysine peptides as models for the PC interacting site of cytochrome f have been studied by absorption, resonance Raman, and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopies and electrochemical measurements. The spectral and electrochemical properties of PCs corresponded well with each other; species having a longer wavelength maximum for the S(Cys) pi --> Cu 3d(x2)-(y2) charge transfer (CT) band observed around 600 nm and a stronger intensity for the 460-nm absorption band exhibited stronger intensities for the positive Met --> Cu 3d(x2-y2) and negative His pi(1) --> Cu 3d(x2-y2) circular dichroism (CD) bands at about 420 and 470 nm, respectively, a lower average v(Cu-S) frequency, a smaller \ A(parallel to)\ EPR parameter, and a higher redox potential, properties all related to a weaker Cu-S(Cys) bond and a more tetrahedral planar geometry for the Cu site. Similarly, on oligolysine binding to wild-type and several Tyr83 mutant PCs, a longer absorption maximum for the 600-nm CT band, a stronger intensity for the 460-nm absorption band, stronger 420-nm positive and 470-nm negative CD bands, and a lower average v(Cu-S) frequency were observed, suggesting that PC assumes a slight more tetrahedral geometry on binding of oligolysine. Since changes were observed for both wild-type and Tyr83 mutant PCs, the structural change due to binding of oligolysine to PC may not be transmitted through the path of Tyr83-Cys84-copper by a cation-pi interaction which is proposed for electron transfer.

Common regulatory patterns have emerged among the feedback loops lying within circadian systems. Significant progress in dissecting the mechanism of clock resetting by temperature and the role of the WC proteins in the Neurospora light response has accompanied documentation of the importance of nuclear localization and phosphorylation-induced turnover of FRQ to this circadian cycle. The long-awaited molecular description of a transcription/translation loop in the Synechococcus circadian system represents a quantal step forward, followed by the identification of additional important proteins and interactions, finally, the adaptive significance of rhythms in Synechococcus and by extension in all clocks nicely ties up an extraordinary year.

The zfx gene encoding a zinc-containing ferredoxin from Thermoplasma acidophilum strain HO-62 was cloned and sequenced. It is located upstream of two genes encoding an archaeal homolog of nascent polypeptide-associated complex alpha subunit and a tRNA nucleotidyltransferase. This gene organization is not conserved in several euryarchaeoteal genomes, The multiple sequence alignments of the zfx gene product suggest significant sequence similarity of the ferredoxin core fold to that of a low potential 8Fe-containing dicluster ferredoxin without a zinc center. The tightly bound zinc site of zinc-containing ferredoxins from two phylogenetically distantly related Archaea, T. acidophilum HO-62 and Sulfolobus sp. strain 7, was further investigated by x-ray absorption spectroscopy. The zinc K-edge x-ray absorption spectra of both archaeal ferredoxins are strikingly similar, demonstrating that the same zinc site is found in T. acidophilum ferredoxin as in Sulfolobus sp, ferredoxin, which suggests the structural conservation of isolated zinc binding sites among archaeal zinc-containing ferredoxins, The sequence and spectroscopic data provide the common structural features of the archaeal zinc-containing ferredoxin family.

To reveal the regulatory mechanism of G(2)-arrest of cell division in embryos at the diapause stage of the silkworm, Bombyx mori, the profiles for mRNA levels of a Bombyx homologue of Cdc2 and a novel Bombyx Cdc2-related kinase (Bcdrk) were examined during ovarian development, early embryogenesis and diapause stage, using a reverse transcription/polymerase chain reaction system. Although levels of mRNAs for Cdc2 and Bcdrk were higher in paired ovaries during the early pupal stage, the levels decreased at the middle stage. Both mRNAs became abundant in oocytes toward the maturation. From oviposition up to the stage just before cellular blastoderm, high levels of both mRNAs were maintained, and thereafter the levels declined. In diapausing eggs kept at 25 degrees C, mRNA levels remained lower, whilst in diapause eggs exposed to 5 degrees C from 2 days after oviposition, in order to break diapause, relatively higher levels of mRNAs were found. In eggs treated with HCl to avert the entry into diapause, mRNA levels per egg for Cdc2 and Bcdrk increased 2 days after treatment, although these increases were not observed in terms of mRNA levels per actin mRNA. These results were discussed in relation to the activities of nuclear/cellular division in ovaries and eggs. In addition, Bcdrk was suggested to play a role similar to that in Bombyx Cdc2 kinase, because the changing profile for levels of Bcdrk mRNA resembled that for cdc2 mRNA.

In diapausing eggs of the silkworm, Bombyx mori, embryonic cells are arrested at G2 phase. The ability to undertake cell division is resumed in the course of dispause termination caused by such a treatment as acclimation to 5°C. As an initial trial to investigate the relationship between diapause end embryonic cell cycling, we have cloned and sequenced two Bombyx cDNAs encoding two distinct cdc2-related Ser/Thr protein kinases. One (Bm cdc2) encoded a 37.0 kDa protein which had all of the domains characteristic of other Cdc2 kinase. The other (Bcdrk) encoded a 45.1 kDa protein that was most similar to Drosophila and human cdc2-related protein kinases (Dcdrkprotein and PISSRLE kinase). Northern blot analysis was carried out to examine levels of Bm cdc2 end Bcdrk mRNA during embryogenesis of non-diapause eggs. The result demonstrated that the mRNA level of Bm cdc2 appeared to correspond to the activity of nuclear/cellular division in non-diapause eggs, and that the developmental profile in the level of Bcdrk mRNA was somewhat different from that of Bm cdc2 mRNA.