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Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Spectrophotometric Determination of Phycobiliprotein Content in Cyanobacterium Synechocystis
Published on: September 11, 2018
Coordinate up-regulation of carotenoid biosynthesis as a response to light stress in Synechococcus PCC7942
Lutz Schäfer1, Manuela Sandmann, Sonja Woitsch
1Molecular Biosciences 213, J.W. Goethe Universität, PO Box 111932, D-60054 Frankfurt/M, Germany.
Abstract:
Carotenoid biosynthesis is up-regulated by strong light in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus. By blocking off the pathway at the level of phytoene conversion, light-dependent accumulation of phytoene was observed. Real-time PCR studies demonstrated that four genes of the carotenogenic pathway are under transcriptional control. These were the genes encoding phytoene synthase, phytoene desaturase, zeta-carotene desaturase and beta-carotene hydroxylase. The transcript of the first three follow a similar kinetics, whereas the transcript of beta-carotene hydroxylase increased much faster upon transfer to high light. Promoter activities were determined with transcriptional fusions to chloramphenicol acyltransferase as reporter enzyme. The activity of the promoter of the phytoene desaturase/synthase operon was higher under strong light.
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