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Nitrogen starvation–induced oxidative stress relieves PII-mediated inhibition of acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase) activity and signals enhanced lipid synthesis in Synechococcus PCC 7942

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Abstract

The present study shows the existence of PII-acetyl-CoA carboxylase interaction in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942 and the possible adverse impact of nitrogen starvation on this interaction. The in silico and in vitro analysis of PII-acetyl-CoA carboxylase interaction revealed that the biotin carboxyl carrier protein subunit of acetyl-CoA carboxylase enzyme actually interacts with the T-loop of PII protein. However, exposure of the cyanobacterium to nitrogen-starved condition showed a higher expression and activity of acetyl-CoA carboxylase at the intracellular level which denoted the impairment of PII-acetyl-CoA carboxylase interaction. A similar stimulatory effect of nitrogen starvation has also been noticed in the PII mutant of Synechococcus PCC 7942. Further, the physiological study reflected that nitrogen starvation–caused reactive oxygen species generation in the wild-type and PII mutant strains and lipid was increased in both strains of Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942. Proteomic analysis showed the upregulation of glycogen synthase, biotin carboxylase, and antioxidative enzymes and the deregulation of proteins involved in photosynthesis, energy metabolism, and protein synthesis. Interestingly, enhanced accumulation of transcripts of few tricarboxylic acid cycle genes was also noticed in the wild type. Although oxidative stress and lipid production were enhanced in both the test strains under nitrogen starvation, the impacts were more prominent in the mutant strain. Our results suggest that the nitrogen starvation–induced oxidative stress possibly relieved the PII-mediated inhibition of acetyl-CoA carboxylase and led to increased lipid synthesis in Synechococcus PCC 7942.

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Acknowledgments

We are thankful to the Head, Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, for providing laboratory facilities. We thank Prof. Karl Forchhammer, Department of Organismic Interactions (Microbiology), Interfaculty Institute of Microbiology and Infection, Auf der Morgenstelle, 2872076, University of Tübingen, Germany, for providing Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942 wild and mutant strains. Ekta Verma is thankful to the UGC, New Delhi, for financial support in the form of SRF.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Microbial Genetics, Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India

    Ekta Verma, Sindhunath Chakraborty, Surbhi Kharwar, Balkrishna Tiwari & Arun Kumar Mishra

  2. Laboratory of Cyanobacterial Systematics & Stress Biology, Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India

    Satya Shila Singh

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  1. Ekta Verma
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Contributions

EV and AKM designed the experiments. EV, SC, and SK performed the experiments. EV, SC, BT, and SSS were involved in analyzing the data. EV, SC, SSS, and AKM wrote the manuscript. AKM critically reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Arun Kumar Mishra.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Fig. S1

Three dimensional structures of (A) PII protein and (B) Biotin carboxyl carrier protein of Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942. (PNG 299 kb)

High resolution image (TIF 391 kb)

Supplementary Fig. S2

Ramachandran plot of biotin carboxyl carrier protein showing the residues in favoured, allowed and outlier region. (PNG 326 kb)

High resolution image (TIF 573 kb)

Supplementary Fig. S3

Three dimensional docked structure of PII and biotin carboxyl carrier protein using the Hex programme (S3A). Blue colour structure represents the PII protein whereas brown color represents the BCCP protein. Interacting residues of both proteins are presented in Fig. S3B. Fig. S3C represents the distance between interacting residues and Fig. S3D represents the polar interactions. (PNG 1340 kb)

High resolution image (TIF 3968 kb)

Supplementary Fig. S4

Residues of PII protein and biotin carboxyl carrier protein involve in protein-protein interaction. Red, yellow, green and blue colour represents the sequences of PII protein, sequences of biotin carboxyl carrier protein, residues of PII protein interacted with biotin carboxyl carrier protein and residues of biotin carboxyl carrier protein interacted with PII protein respectively. (PNG 271 kb)

High resolution image (TIF 908 kb)

Supplementary Fig. S5

SDS-PAGE images of (A) expression of cloned PII protein and (B) purification of PII protein using Ni-NTA column. (PNG 1003 kb)

High resolution image (TIF 1912 kb)

Supplementary Fig. S6

Transcript analysis in terms of reverse transcriptase PCR of Synpcc7942_1379 (Biotin carboxylase), Synpcc7942_2564 (Biotin carboxyl carrier protein), Synpcc7942_0918 (Acyl-ACP synthetase), Synpcc7942_0801 (SOD), Synpcc7942_1656 (CAT), Synpcc7942_1426 (Rubisco) and Synpcc7942_2518 (Glycogen synthase) (A). Transcript abundance of some genes of TCA cycle was also analysed in terms of reverse transcriptase PCR of Synpcc7942_0143 (Pyruvate dehydrogenase), Synpcc7942_1719 (Isocitrate dehydrogenase), Synpcc7942_0098 (Pyruvate kinase), Synpcc7942_1435 (2-oxoglutarate decarboxylase), Synpcc7942_2160 (Alanine aminotransferase) and Synpcc7942_2310 (Glutamate decarboxylase) (B). Apart from these transcripts abundance of glnB gene encoding PII protein was also estimated (C). Wt (wild); Wt-N (wild-N); MP2 (mutant); MP2-N (mutant-N). (PNG 305 kb)

High resolution image (TIF 1192 kb)

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Verma, E., Chakraborty, S., Kharwar, S. et al. Nitrogen starvation–induced oxidative stress relieves PII-mediated inhibition of acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase) activity and signals enhanced lipid synthesis in Synechococcus PCC 7942. J Appl Phycol 33, 313–329 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-020-02316-9

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