Research Projects

Cyanobacteria possess plant-type oxygen-evolving photosynthesis and considered as potential candidate for reducing global CO2 concentration. Cyanobacteria possess highly efficient carbon concentrating mechanism and sequestered carbon can be diverted towards production of biomass that can be used for bioenergy and valuable chemicals production. However, growth of cyanobacteria is challenged by fluctuating environmental conditions that compromise their fitness, development, and growth due to oxidative stress. BolA and monothiol glutaredoxin (MGRX) are oxidoreductase proteins encoded by bolA and mgrx genes, respectively. Two proteins are found in all domains of life and their amino acid sequences are highly conserved. The co-occurrence of bolA-mgrx genes is highly conserved in all domains of life which strongly suggests that together these two proteins could control cellular processes in the cell. Several critically important biological processes such as development, oxidative stress/redox balance, iron homeostasis, photomorphogenesis, iron-sulfur cluster assembly, signaling, DNA synthesis, transcription etc. have been proposed to be controlled by the products of bolA and mgrx genes in different organisms. However, physiological relevance of two proteins under different environmental conditions is not yet established due to lack of single and double-gene knockout strains in any biological system. This work propose to develop single (∆bolA, ∆mgrx) and double-gene (∆bolA-mgrx) knockout mutants in a cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942, and characterization of mutants to identify sub-optimal physiology of mutants in comparison to wild-type and possible role of latent reactions to decipher the role of two proteins in determining the fitness of organism under different environmental conditions. Thus, proposed study will identify the physiological relevance of two genes and will increase our understanding on developmental/biological processes controlled by BolA and MGRX proteins. The outcome of this study will create new knowledge of developmental processes and phenotypes controlled by BolA and MGRX in cyanobacteria which is completely lacking. In long-term, obtained information could help in developing improved strains of cyanobacteria that can perform better under dynamic environmental conditions and can be useful in green energy and chemicals production.