Cyanophycin: A Nitrogen-Rich Reserve Polymer

Watzer, Björn; Forchhammer, Karl

doi:10.5772/intechopen.77049

Cited by 15 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 106 publications

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“…Cyanophycin is a carbon and nitrogen storage polymer that, given its relatively high N to C ratio, can be considered a nitrogen reserve. Excellent reviews covering different aspects of cyanophycin biology are available [17,20,21]. Here we shall address the biosynthesis and degradation of cyanophycin and the metabolism of its constituent amino acids in cyanobacteria.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cyanophycin and arginine metabolism in cyanobacteria

2019

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Cyanobacteria are oxygenic phoautotrophs that can utilize inorganic nitrogen salts, atmospheric nitrogen and some amino acids such as arginine as nitrogen source. Under unbalanced growth in the presence of sufficient nitrogen, many cyanobacteria accumulate cyanophycin, a co-polymer of aspartate and arginine that serves as a nitrogen reservoir. Cyanophycin metabolism enzymes include cyanophycin synthetases, cyanophycinase and isoaspartyl dipeptidase, which splits aspartyl arginine released from cyanophycin by cyanophycinase into aspartate and arginine. The arginine catabolic pathway of cyanobacteria has been recently elucidated and consists of two bifunctional enzymes, arginine-guanidine removing enzyme (AgrE) and proline oxidase (PutA). This pathway makes available to metabolism the four nitrogen atoms of arginine, three as ammonia and one as glutamate. A variant of the pathway cycles ornithine (an intermediate in the AgrE-catalyzed reactions) back to arginine incorporating aspartate and, hence, recovering its nitrogen atom for metabolism. Many cyanobacteria also make use of this pathway to utilize arginine taken up from the outer medium through a high-affinity ABC transporter. An analysis of co-occurrence in cyanobacteria of the genes encoding enzymes of cyanophycin metabolism, arginine catabolism and the arginine and aspartate transporters indicates a strong correlation between the presence of cyanophycin and the AgrE/PutA pathway.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cyanophycin and arginine metabolism in cyanobacteria

2019

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“…Biotechnology can be used to improve the bioavailability of nitrogen in plants, and smart nitrogen management can contribute positively to agricultural development. Another example is cyanophycin, a polymer present in most cyanobacteria (and a few bacteria) that has been reported to be extremely rich in nitrogen and an excellent nitrogen storage compound [134]. This polymer has great biotechnological potential and could be used in industrial applications such as agriculture to harness N, but certain drawbacks in the cyanophycin production have to be overcome to expand its application.…”

Section: Soils: Nutrient Availability Toxicity and Miningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brown biotechnology: a powerful toolbox for resolving current and future challenges in the development of arid lands

et al. 2020

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The aim of this study was to link the biotechnological advances made in arid lands, which are known as "brown biotechnology, " to the current environmental challenges facing these regions, their ecosystems and their inhabitants. We present a broad compilation of scientific evidence and technological advances developed over the past 15 years that have helped to address some of the classical constraints of arid environments, such as the development of sustainable agriculture in areas limited by water resources and low levels of organic matter in soils, including the relevant organisms and their interactions with biotic and abiotic stressors. New challenges and new opportunities related to the production of sustainable energy, versatile crops, phytoremediation, biofertilization, desalination, and the incorporation of genes into plants to improve their resistance to water scarcity and to obtain biomolecules from the organisms living in these hostile environments are also presented. To face the constant and recently extreme changes in the climate and the worrisome scarcity of natural resources successfully, issues that need to be resolved in the short and medium terms are described here.

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“…Among these modulators, the ability to internally store resources is a trait that affects both the survival of an individual organism and its overall resource use patterns (Kadouri et al, 2005;Mason-Jones et al, in press). Diverse microorganisms are known to internally store carbon (C), nitrogen (N) or phosphorus (P) (Albi and Serrano, 2016;Koller et al, 2017;Watzer and Forchhammer, 2018). Although intracellular storage is likely a widespread trait among soil microorganisms and may crucially modulate soil biogeochemical cycles (Mason-Jones et al, in press), this trait is yet to be understood in the context of soil microbial growth and survival, in particular from a theoretical perspective.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intracellular Storage Reduces Stoichiometric Imbalances in Soil Microbial Biomass – A Theoretical Exploration

et al. 2021

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Microbial intracellular storage is key to defining microbial resource use strategies and could contribute to carbon (C) and nutrient cycling. However, little attention has been devoted to the role of intracellular storage in soil processes, in particular from a theoretical perspective. Here we fill this gap by integrating intracellular storage dynamics into a microbially explicit soil C and nutrient cycling model. Two ecologically relevant modes of storage are considered: reserve storage, in which elements are routed to a storage compartment in proportion to their uptake rate, and surplus storage, in which elements in excess of microbial stoichiometric requirements are stored and limiting elements are remobilized from storage to fuel growth and microbial maintenance. Our aim is to explore with this model how these different storage modes affect the retention of C and nutrients in active microbial biomass under idealized conditions mimicking a substrate pulse experiment. As a case study, we describe C and phosphorus (P) dynamics using literature data to estimate model parameters. Both storage modes enhance the retention of elements in microbial biomass, but the surplus storage mode is more effective to selectively store or remobilize C and nutrients according to microbial needs. Enhancement of microbial growth by both storage modes is largest when the substrate C:nutrient ratio is high (causing nutrient limitation after substrate addition) and the amount of added substrate is large. Moreover, storage increases biomass nutrient retention and growth more effectively when resources are supplied in a few large pulses compared to several smaller pulses (mimicking a nearly constant supply), which suggests storage to be particularly relevant in highly dynamic soil microhabitats. Overall, our results indicate that storage dynamics are most important under conditions of strong stoichiometric imbalance and may be of high ecological relevance in soil environments experiencing large variations in C and nutrient supply.

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Cyanophycin: A Nitrogen-Rich Reserve Polymer

Cited by 15 publications

References 106 publications

Cyanophycin and arginine metabolism in cyanobacteria

Cyanophycin and arginine metabolism in cyanobacteria

Brown biotechnology: a powerful toolbox for resolving current and future challenges in the development of arid lands

Intracellular Storage Reduces Stoichiometric Imbalances in Soil Microbial Biomass – A Theoretical Exploration

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