Photoresponse Mechanism in Cyanobacteria: Key Factor in Photoautotrophic Chassis

As the oldest oxygenic photoautotrophic prokaryotes, cyanobacteria have outstanding advantages as the chassis cell in the research field of synthetic biology. Cognition of photosynthetic mechanism, including the photoresponse mechanism under high-light (HL) conditions, is important for optimization of the cyanobacteria photoautotrophic chassis for synthesizing biomaterials as "microbial cell factories." Cyanobacteria are well-established model organisms for the study of oxygenic photosynthesis and have evolved various acclimatory responses to HL conditions to protect the photosynthetic apparatus from photodamage. Here, we reviewed the latest progress in the mechanism of HL acclimation in cyanobacteria. The subsequent acclimatory responses and the corresponding molecular mechanisms are included: (1) acclimatory responses of PSII and PSI; (2) the degradation of phycobilisome; (3) induction of the photoprotective mechanisms such as state transitions, OCP-dependent non-photochemical quenching, and the induction of HLIP family; and (4) the regulation mechanisms of the gene expression under HL.