Construction and analysis of a high-CO2-requiring mutant of the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC7120

Abstract

A mutant of Anabaena sp. strain PCC7120 requiring high CO₂ was generated using Tn5 mutagenesis. This is the first data for a filamentous cyanobacterium. The mutant was capable of growing at 5% CO₂, but incapable of growing at air levels of CO₂. Southern hybridization analysis indicated that the Anabaena genome was inserted by the transposon at one site. The apparent photosynthetic affinity of the mutant to external dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) was about 300 times lower that of the wild type (WT), and the medium alkalization rate as well as the carboxysomal carbonic anhydrase activity of the mutant was also lower than those of the WT. When the mutant was transferred from the culture medium bubbled with 5% CO₂ to higher DIC (8.4% CO₂) or 1% CO₂, it showed similar responses to the WT. However, aberrant carboxysomes were found in the mutant cells through ultrastructural analysis, indicating it was most probably the wrong organization of the carboxysomes that eventually led to the inefficient operation of carboxysomal carbonic anhydrase and the subsequent defectiveness of the mutant in utilizing DIC.