Project Details
Projekt
Coordination Funds
Applicant
Professor Dr. Karl Forchhammer
Subject Area
Metabolism, Biochemistry and Genetics of Microorganisms
Term
from 2018 to 2023
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 397695561
The Autotrophy-Heterotrophy Switch in Cyanobacteria: Coherent Decision-Making at Multiple Regulatory LayersShort title: SCyCode (Switch in Cyanobacteria: Coherent decision-making)Cyanobacteria are the primordial oxygenic photosynthetic organisms on Earth. Their outstanding ecological impact is based on a metabolism, which converts carbon dioxide and water into organic material with the concomitant release of oxygen only using light energy. Recently, cyanobacteria are increasingly investigated as cell factories for a sustainable economy. Despite their global environmental and rising economic importance, our knowledge on the regulation of their primary metabolism is fragmented, which is also due to the unforeseen high complexity of metabolism. Cyanobacteria switch between photoautotrophic and heterotrophic modes of metabolism during day/night cycles or under specific environmental conditions with the enzymatic capacity for both life-styles being present in one cell. To decipher the molecular mechanisms regulating and operating these processes, an interdisciplinary team that covers the relevant expertise joined forces by establishing the research unit “The Autotrophy Heterotrophy Switch in Cyanobacteria: Coherent decision-making on multiple regulatory layers” (abbreviated “SCyCode”). Major discoveries achieved during the first funding period highlight the importance of isoenzymes regulated at multiple layers, for example by the redox or energy state, by post-translational protein modifications, or by the dynamic self-organization of higher order multi-enzyme complexes, which involves non-enzymatic regulatory peptides such as CP12 or the newly discovered PirC and NblD peptides. Furthermore, SCyCode has established resources for the analysis of multi-subunit protein–metabolite and of protein-RNA complexes that can already be accessed by the community through suitable databases. Our consortium has also initiated major steps for the systematic understanding of the cyanobacterial phosphoproteome, metabolome and proteogenome. These resources will be substantially extended during the second funding period by following the dynamic changes in the composition and modification of major macromolecular complexes through different growth conditions and physiological states. Based on the results from the 1st funding period, hypotheses have been developed which we will challenge in specific experiments during the second funding period. A major focus will be combining the obtained insight at mechanistic levels with a structure-function understanding of pathway organization and regulation, redox signalling, and posttranslational control mechanisms, which will culminate in an integrative kinetic model for cyanobacterial primary metabolism. Such an integrated view on the network control responsible for metabolic switches is essential for future biotechnological applications as well as a system level understanding of cyanobacterial metabolism and its regulation.
DFG Programme
Research Units
