Structural Determinants and Their Role in Cyanobacterial Morphogenesis

Abstract

Cells have to erect and sustain an organized and dynamically adaptable structure for an efficient mode of operation that allows drastic morphological changes during cell growth and cell division. These manifold tasks are complied by the so-called cytoskeleton and its associated proteins. In bacteria, FtsZ and MreB, the bacterial homologs to tubulin and actin, respectively, as well as coiled-coil-rich proteins of intermediate filament (IF)-like function to fulfil these tasks. Despite generally being characterized as Gram-negative, cyanobacteria have a remarkably thick peptidoglycan layer and possess Gram-positive-specific cell division proteins such as SepF and DivIVA-like proteins, besides Gram-negative and cyanobacterial-specific cell division proteins like MinE, SepI, ZipN (Ftn2) and ZipS (Ftn6). The diversity of cellular morphologies and cell growth strategies in cyanobacteria could therefore be the result of additional unidentified structural determinants such as cytoskeletal proteins. In this article, we review the current advances in the understanding of the cyanobacterial cell shape, cell division and cell growth.

Outside-in: intracellular vesicles in giant sulfur bacteria contain peptidoglycan

“…Homologues were not detected in Ca. T. nelsonii's genomes nor did we find homologues to other known bacterial IFs [101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112][113][114][115]. The homopolymer bactofilin, CcmA (pfam04519), an alternative to IFs in bacteria [116], has been found broadly across bacteria and is present in Ca.…”

Genetic, Genomics, and Responses to Stresses in Cyanobacteria: Biotechnological Implications

“…Furthermore, cyanobacteria synthesize a wide variety of bioactive metabolites (Figure 1), many of which being of interest for human health [15][16][17][18], and they are regarded as promising cell factories for the production of chemicals (fuels and biodegradable bioplastics) from highly abundant natural resources: solar energy, water (not necessarily potable), CO 2 , and minerals, thanks to their active photosynthesis and the synthetic biology tools of model species [10,19,20]. metabolisms and morphologies [11,12], and numerous species can differentiate cells, akinetes (spores) and/or heterocysts, which are dedicated to growth or survival under adverse conditions [13,14]. Thus, cyanobacteria are good model organisms to study the impact of environmental conditions on the physiology, metabolism, and morphology of microbial cells.…”

“…Consequently, it is not surprising that cyanobacteria have evolved as a widely diverse organisms, which are of high interest for basic and applied research [ 10 ]. They display various metabolisms and morphologies [ 11 , 12 ], and numerous species can differentiate cells, akinetes (spores) and/or heterocysts, which are dedicated to growth or survival under adverse conditions [ 13 , 14 ]. Thus, cyanobacteria are good model organisms to study the impact of environmental conditions on the physiology, metabolism, and morphology of microbial cells.…”

Carotenoids from Cyanobacteria: Biotechnological Potential and Optimization Strategies

“…For a better extraction efficiency, the cell disruption methodology must be chosen in terms of the specific cell wall composition and the scalability of the technology. Unlike other Gram-negative bacteria and microalgae, cyanobacteria contain a thick peptidoglycan layer between the inner and the outer membrane, which can increase the resistance of the cell in the extraction process [ 79 ]. Regarding cyanobacteria, Table 7 summarizes the main technologies used for carotenoids extraction.…”