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Updated: Jan 29, 2026

Determination of the Settling Rate of Clay/Cyanobacterial Floccules
Published on: June 11, 2018
Quantitative insights into the cyanobacterial cell economy
Tomáš Zavřel1, Marjan Faizi2, Cristina Loureiro3
1Laboratory of Adaptive Biotechnologies, Global Change Research Institute CAS, Brno, Czech Republic.
Abstract:
Phototrophic microorganisms are promising resources for green biotechnology. Compared to heterotrophic microorganisms, however, the cellular economy of phototrophic growth is still insufficiently understood. We provide a quantitative analysis of light-limited, light-saturated, and light-inhibited growth of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 using a reproducible cultivation setup. We report key physiological parameters, including growth rate, cell size, and photosynthetic activity over a wide range of light intensities. Intracellular proteins were quantified to monitor proteome allocation as a function of growth rate. Among other physiological acclimations, we identify an upregulation of the translational machinery and downregulation of light harvesting components with increasing light intensity and growth rate. The resulting growth laws are discussed in the context of a coarse-grained model of phototrophic growth and available data obtained by a comprehensive literature search. Our insights into quantitative aspects of cyanobacterial acclimations to different growth rates have implications to understand and optimize photosynthetic productivity.
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