Details zur Publikation

Kategorie Textpublikation
Referenztyp Zeitschriften
DOI 10.1186/s12934-026-02982-3
Lizenz creative commons licence
Titel (primär) Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 shows high cell cycle dynamics reflected by an extraordinary genome copy number variation
Autor Till, J.; López-Gálvez, J.; Schattenberg, F.; Schmidt, M. ORCID logo ; Müller, S.; Toepel, J. ORCID logo ; Bühler, B.
Quelle Microbial Cell Factories
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
Department MIBITECH; AME
Band/Volume 25
Seite von art. 113
Sprache englisch
Topic T7 Bioeconomy
Daten-/Softwarelinks https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16778049
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17241600
Keywords Cyanobacteria; Ploidy; Genome copy numbers; Flow cytometry; Phosphate starvation
Abstract Background
Several cyanobacterial strains are known to contain a high number of genome copies and elevated cell
cycle dynamics. We systematically investigated the ploidy of the model cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 during growth under conditions differing in type (light, CO2, phosphate) and extent of growth limitation.

Results
The results obtained via flow cytometry with DAPI-stained cells and quantitative PCR revealed a direct
correlation between growth rate and genome copy number (GCN), shedding light on the widely varying copy
numbers reported in previous studies. The highest GCNs of up to 72 in average and well above 100 for individual cells were detected during unlimited growth. The lowest GCNs were measured upon limitation by CO2, light, and/or phosphate. Prolonged limitation by multiple factors led to the development of a small population with a GCN of 1 prone to facilitate genetic engineering. Additionally, under phosphate limitation, we found the development of distinct subpopulations differing in cell size, cell shape, as well as pigment and storage compound content, indicating a type of differentiation to survive stress conditions.

Conclusions
This study deciphers the high GCN dynamics in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, thereby provides knowledge useful to determine the growth state of cells and for strain engineering (transformation, pathway engineering, etc.), and gives novel insights into physiological adaptations of cyanobacteria upon variation of environmental conditions.
Till, J., López-Gálvez, J., Schattenberg, F., Schmidt, M., Müller, S., Toepel, J., Bühler, B. (2026):
Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 shows high cell cycle dynamics reflected by an extraordinary genome copy number variation
Microb. Cell. Fact. 25 , art. 113
10.1186/s12934-026-02982-3