Investigation of singlet-oxygen-responsive genes in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC 6803

Singlet oxygen (¹O₂) is an important reactive oxygen species whose formation by the type-II, light-dependent, photodynamic reaction is inevitable during photosynthetic processes. In the last decades, the recognition that ¹O₂ is not only a damaging agent, but can also affect gene expression and participates in signal transduction pathways has received increasing attention. However, contrary to several other taxa, ¹O₂-responsive genes have not been identified in the important cyanobacterial model organism Synechocystis PCC 6803. By using global transcript analysis we have identified a large set of Synechocystis genes, whose transcript levels were either enhanced or repressed in the presence of ¹O₂. Characteristic ¹O₂ responses were observed in several light-inducible genes of Synechocystis, especially in the hli (or scp) family encoding HLIP/SCP proteins involved in photoprotection. Other important ¹O₂-induced genes include components of the Photosystem II repair machinery (psbA2 and ftsH2, ftsH3), iron homeostasis genes isiA and idiA, the group 2 sigma factor sigD, some components of the transcriptomes induced by salt-, hyperosmotic and cold-stress, as well as several genes of unknown function. The most pronounced ¹O₂-induced upregulation was observed for the hliB and the co-transcribed lilA genes, whose deletion induced enhanced sensitivity against ¹O₂-mediated light damage. A bioreporter Synechocystis strain was created by fusing the hliB promoter to the bacterial luciferase (lux), which showed its utility for continuous monitoring of ¹O₂ concentrations inside the cell.