Increased biomass production and glycogen accumulation in apcE gene deleted Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

The effect of phycobilisome antenna-truncation in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 on biomass production and glycogen accumulation have not yet been fully clarified. To investigate these effects here, the apcE gene, which encodes the anchor protein linking the phycobilisome to the thylakoid membrane, was deleted in a glucose tolerant strain of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. Biomass production of the apcE-deleted strain under photoautotrophic and atmospheric air conditions was 1.6 times higher than that of strain PCC 6803 (1.32 ± 0.01 versus 0.84 ± 0.07 g cell-dry weight L(-1), respectively) after 15 days of cultivation. In addition, the glycogen content of the apcE-deleted strain (24.2 ± 0.7%) was also higher than that of strain PCC 6803 (11.1 ± 0.3%). Together, these results demonstrate that antenna truncation by deleting the apcE gene was effective for increasing biomass production and glycogen accumulation under photoautotrophic and atmospheric air conditions in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.