Porins are essential for the viability of Gram-negative bacteria. They ensure the uptake of nutrients, can be involved in the maintenance of outer membrane integrity and define the antibiotic or drug resistance of organisms. The function and structure of porins in proteobacteria is well described, while their function in photoautotrophic cyanobacteria has not been systematically explored. We compared the domain architecture of nine putative porins in the filamentous cyanobacterium
Anabaena
sp. PCC 7120 and analyzed the seven candidates with predicted OprB-domain. Single recombinant mutants of the seven genes were created and their growth capacity under different conditions was analyzed. Most of the putative porins seem to be involved in the transport of salt and copper, as respective mutants were resistant to elevated concentrations of these substances. In turn, only the mutant of
alr2231
was less sensitive to elevated zinc concentrations, while mutants of
alr0834
,
alr4741
and
all4499
were resistant to high manganese concentrations. Notably the mutant of
alr4550
shows a high sensitivity against harmful compounds, which is indicative for a function related to the maintenance of outer membrane integrity. Moreover, the mutant of
all5191
exhibited a phenotype which suggests either a higher nitrate demand or an inefficient nitrogen fixation. The dependency of porin membrane insertion on Omp85 proteins was tested exemplarily for Alr4550, and an enhanced aggregation of Alr4550 was observed in two
omp85
mutants. The comparative analysis of porin mutants suggests that the proteins in parts perform distinct functions related to envelope integrity and solute uptake.