Dynamics and Cell-Type Specificity of the DNA Double-Strand Break Repair Protein RecN in the Developmental Cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. Strain PCC 7120

DNA replication and repair are two fundamental processes required in life proliferation and cellular defense and some common proteins are involved in both processes. The filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 is capable of forming heterocysts for N₂ fixation in the absence of a combined-nitrogen source. This developmental process is intimately linked to cell cycle control. In this study, we investigated the localization of the DNA double-strand break repair protein RecN during key cellular events, such as chromosome damaging, cell division, and heterocyst differentiation. Treatment by a drug causing DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) induced reorganization of the RecN focus preferentially towards the mid-cell position. RecN-GFP was absent in most mature heterocysts. Furthermore, our results showed that HetR, a central player in heterocyst development, was involved in the proper positioning and distribution of RecN-GFP. These results showed the dynamics of RecN in DSB repair and suggested a differential regulation of DNA DSB repair in vegetative cell and heterocysts. The absence of RecN in mature heterocysts is compatible with the terminal nature of these cells.     

Relationship among several key cell cycle events in the developmental cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120

When grown in the absence of a source of combined nitrogen, the filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 develops, within 24 h, a differentiated cell type called a heterocyst that is specifically involved in the fixation of N(2). Cell division is required for heterocyst development, suggesting that the cell cycle could control this developmental process. In this study, we investigated several key events of the cell cycle, such as cell growth, DNA synthesis, and cell division, and explored their relationships to heterocyst development. The results of analyses by flow cytometry indicated that the DNA content increased as the cell size expanded during cell growth. The DNA content of heterocysts corresponded to the subpopulation of vegetative cells that had a big cell size, presumably those at the late stages of cell growth. Consistent with these results, most proheterocysts exhibited two nucleoids, which were resolved into a single nucleoid in most mature heterocysts. The ring structure of FtsZ, a protein required for the initiation of bacterial cell division, was present predominantly in big cells and rarely in small cells. When cell division was inhibited and consequently cells became elongated, little change in DNA content was found by measurement using flow cytometry, suggesting that inhibition of cell division may block further synthesis of DNA. The overexpression of minC, which encodes an inhibitor of FtsZ polymerization, led to the inhibition of cell division, but cells expanded in spherical form to become giant cells; structures with several cells attached together in the form of a cloverleaf could be seen frequently. These results may indicate that the relative amounts of FtsZ and MinC affect not only cell division but also the placement of the cell division planes and the cell morphology. MinC overexpression blocked heterocyst differentiation, consistent with the requirement of cell division in the control of heterocyst development.     

Functional dissection and evidence for intercellular transfer of the heterocyst‐differentiation PatS morphogen

The formation of a diazotrophic cyanobacterial filament represents a simple example of biological development. In Anabaena, a non‐random pattern of one nitrogen‐fixing heterocyst separated by about 10 photosynthetic vegetative cells results from lateral inhibition elicited by the cells differentiating into heterocysts. Key to this process is the patS gene, which has been shown to produce an inhibitor of heterocyst differentiation that involves the C‐terminal RGSGR pentapeptide. Complementation of a ΔpatS Anabaena mutant with different versions of PatS, including point mutations or tag fusions, showed that patS is translated into a 17‐amino acid polypeptide. Alterations in the N‐terminal part of PatS produced inhibition of heterocyst differentiation, thus this part of the peptide appears necessary for proper processing and self‐immunity in the producing cells. Alterations in the C‐terminal part of PatS led to over‐differentiation, thus supporting its role in inhibition of heterocyst differentiation. A polypeptide, produced in proheterocysts, consisting of a methionine followed by the eight, but not the five, terminal amino acids of PatS recreated the full activity of the native peptide. Immunofluorescence detection showed that an RGSGR‐containing peptide accumulated in the cells adjacent to the producing proheterocysts, illustrating intercellular transfer of a morphogen in the cyanobacterial filaments.     

Overexpression of SepJ alters septal morphology and heterocyst pattern regulated by diffusible signals in Anabaena

Filamentous, N₂‐fixing, heterocyst‐forming cyanobacteria grow as chains of cells that are connected by septal junctions. In the model organism Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120, the septal protein SepJ is required for filament integrity, normal intercellular molecular exchange, heterocyst differentiation, and diazotrophic growth. An Anabaena strain overexpressing SepJ made wider septa between vegetative cells than the wild type, which correlated with a more spread location of SepJ in the septa as observed with a SepJ–GFP fusion, and contained an increased number of nanopores, the septal peptidoglycan perforations that likely accommodate septal junctions. The septa between heterocysts and vegetative cells, which are narrow in wild‐type Anabaena, were notably enlarged in the SepJ‐overexpressing mutant. Intercellular molecular exchange tested with fluorescent tracers was increased for the SepJ‐overexpressing strain specifically in the case of calcein transfer between vegetative cells and heterocysts. These results support an association between calcein transfer, SepJ‐related septal junctions, and septal peptidoglycan nanopores. Under nitrogen deprivation, the SepJ‐overexpressing strain produced an increased number of contiguous heterocysts but a decreased percentage of total heterocysts. These effects were lost or altered in patS and hetN mutant backgrounds, supporting a role of SepJ in the intercellular transfer of regulatory signals for heterocyst differentiation.     

Heterocyst patterns without patterning proteins in cyanobacterial filaments

We have quantitatively modeled heterocyst differentiation after fixed nitrogen step-down in the filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 without lateral inhibition due to the patterning proteins PatS or HetN. We use cell growth and division together with fixed-nitrogen dynamics and allow heterocysts to differentiate upon the local exhaustion of available fixed nitrogen. Slow transport of fixed nitrogen along a shared periplasmic space allows for fast growing cells to differentiate ahead of their neighbors. Cell-to-cell variability in growth rate determines the initial heterocyst pattern. Early release of fixed nitrogen from committed heterocysts allows a significant fraction of vegetative cells to be retained at later times. We recover the experimental heterocyst spacing distributions and cluster size distributions of Khudyakov and Golden [Khudyakov, I.Y., Golden, J.W., 2004. Different functions of HetR, a master regulator of heterocyst differentiation in Anabaena sp PCC 7120, can be separated by mutation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 101, 16040-16045].     

Cyanobacterial Cell Lineage Analysis of the Spatiotemporal hetR Expression Profile during Heterocyst Pattern Formation in Anabaena sp. PCC 7120

Diazotrophic heterocyst formation in the filamentous cyanobacterium, Anabaena sp. PCC 7120, is one of the simplest pattern formations known to occur in cell differentiation. Most previous studies on heterocyst patterning were based on statistical analysis using cells collected or observed at different times from a liquid culture, which would mask stochastic fluctuations affecting the process of pattern formation dynamics in a single bacterial filament. In order to analyze the spatiotemporal dynamics of heterocyst formation at the single filament level, here we developed a culture system to monitor simultaneously bacterial development, gene expression, and phycobilisome fluorescence. We also developed micro-liquid chamber arrays to analyze multiple Anabaena filaments at the same time. Cell lineage analyses demonstrated that the initial distributions of hetR::gfp and phycobilisome fluorescence signals at nitrogen step-down were not correlated with the resulting distribution of developed heterocysts. Time-lapse observations also revealed a dynamic hetR expression profile at the single-filament level, including transient upregulation accompanying cell division, which did not always lead to heterocyst development. In addition, some cells differentiated into heterocysts without cell division after nitrogen step-down, suggesting that cell division in the mother cells is not an essential requirement for heterocyst differentiation.     

Comparative Network Biology Discovers Protein Complexes That Underline Cellular Differentiation in Anabaena sp.

The filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 can differentiate into heterocysts to fix atmospheric nitrogen. During cell differentiation, cellular morphology and gene expression undergo a series of significant changes. To uncover the mechanisms responsible for these alterations, we built protein–protein interaction (PPI) networks for these two cell types by cofractionation coupled with mass spectrometry. We predicted 280 and 215 protein complexes, with 6322 and 2791 high-confidence PPIs in vegetative cells and heterocysts, respectively. Most of the proteins in both types of cells presented similar elution profiles, whereas the elution peaks of 438 proteins showed significant changes. We observed that some well-known complexes recruited new members in heterocysts, such as ribosomes, diflavin flavoprotein, and cytochrome c oxidase. Photosynthetic complexes, including photosystem I, photosystem II, and phycobilisome, remained in both vegetative cells and heterocysts for electron transfer and energy generation. Besides that, PPI data also reveal new functions of proteins. For example, the hypothetical protein Alr4359 was found to interact with FraH and Alr4119 in heterocysts and was located on heterocyst poles, thereby influencing the diazotrophic growth of filaments. The overexpression of Alr4359 suspended heterocyst formation and altered the pigment composition and filament length. This work demonstrates the differences in protein assemblies and provides insight into physiological regulation during cell differentiation.     

Inhibition of cell division suppresses heterocyst development in Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120

When the filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena PCC 7120 is exposed to combined nitrogen starvation, 5 to 10% of the cells along each filament at semiregular intervals differentiate into heterocysts specialized in nitrogen fixation. Heterocysts are terminally differentiated cells in which the major cell division protein FtsZ is undetectable. In this report, we provide molecular evidence indicating that cell division is necessary for heterocyst development. FtsZ, which is translationally fused to the green fluorescent protein (GFP) as a reporter, is found to form a ring structure at the mid-cell position. SulA from Escherichia coli inhibits the GTPase activity of FtsZ in vitro and prevents the formation of FtsZ rings when expressed in Anabaena PCC 7120. The expression of sulA arrests cell division and suppresses heterocyst differentiation completely. The antibiotic aztreonam, which is targeted to the FtsI protein necessary for septum formation, has similar effects on both cell division and heterocyst differentiation, although in this case, the FtsZ ring is still formed. Therefore, heterocyst differentiation is coupled to cell division but independent of the formation of the FtsZ ring. Consistently, once the inhibitory pressure of cell division is removed, cell division should take place first before heterocyst differentiation resumes at a normal frequency. The arrest of cell division does not affect the accumulation of 2-oxoglutarate, which triggers heterocyst differentiation. Consistently, a nonmetabolizable analogue of 2-oxoglutarate does not rescue the failure of heterocyst differentiation when cell division is blocked. These results suggest that the control of heterocyst differentiation by cell division is independent of the 2-oxoglutarate signal.     

Relationships between the ABC-Exporter HetC and Peptides that Regulate the Spatiotemporal Pattern of Heterocyst Distribution in Anabaena

In the model cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120, cells called heterocysts that are specialized in the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen differentiate from vegetative cells of the filament in the absence of combined nitrogen. Heterocysts follow a specific distribution pattern along the filament, and a number of regulators have been identified that influence the heterocyst pattern. PatS and HetN, expressed in the differentiating cells, inhibit the differentiation of neighboring cells. At least PatS appears to be processed and transferred from cell to cell. HetC is similar to ABC exporters and is required for differentiation. We present an epistasis analysis of these regulatory genes and of genes, hetP and asr2819, successively downstream from hetC, and we have studied the localization of HetC and HetP by use of GFP fusions. Inactivation of patS, but not of hetN, allowed differentiation to proceed in a hetC background, whereas inactivation of hetC in patS or patS hetN backgrounds decreased the frequency of contiguous proheterocysts. A HetC-GFP protein is localized to the heterocysts and especially near their cell poles, and a putative HetC peptidase domain was required for heterocyst differentiation but not for HetC-GFP localization. hetP is also required for heterocyst differentiation. A HetP-GFP protein localized mostly near the heterocyst poles. ORF asr2819, which we denote patC, encodes an 84-residue peptide and is induced upon nitrogen step-down. Inactivation of patC led to a late spreading of the heterocyst pattern. Whereas HetC and HetP appear to have linked functions that allow heterocyst differentiation to progress, PatC may have a role in selecting sites of differentiation, suggesting that these closely positioned genes may be functionally related.     

A model for cell type-specific differential gene expression during heterocyst development and the constitution of aerobic nitrogen fixation ability inAnabaena sp. strain PCC 7120

When deprived of combined nitrogen, aerobically-grown filaments ofAnabaena sp. strain PCC7120 differentiate specialized cells called the heterocysts. The differentiation process is an elaborate and well orchestrated programme involving sensing of environmental and developmental signals, commitment of cells to development, gene rearrangements, intricate DNA-protein interactions, and differential expression of several genes. It culminates in a physiological division of labour between heterocysts, which become the sole sites of aerobic nitrogen fixation, and vegetative cells, that provide photosynthate to the heterocysts in return for nitrogen supplies. We propose a model, to describe the chronology of the important events and to explain how cell type-specific differential gene expression is facilitated by DNA-protein interactions leading to the development of heterocysts and constitution of nitrogen-fixing apparatus inAnabaena.     

Early candidacy for differentiation into heterocysts in the filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120

The filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 fixes dinitrogen facultatively. Upon depletion of combined nitrogen, about 10% of vegetative cells within the filaments differentiate terminally into nitrogen-fixing cells. The heterocyst has been studied as a model system of prokaryotic cell differentiation, with major focus on signal transduction and pattern formation. The fate of heterocyst differentiation is determined at about the eighth hour of induction (point of no return), well before conspicuous morphological or metabolic changes occur. However, little is known about how the initial heterocysts are selected after the induction by nitrogen deprivation. To address this question, we followed the fate of every cells on agar plates after nitrogen deprivation with an interval of 4 h. About 10% of heterocysts were formed without prior division after the start of nitrogen deprivation. The intensity of fluorescence of GFP in the transformants of hetR-gfp increased markedly in the future heterocysts at the fourth hour with respect to other cells. We also noted that the growing filaments consisted of clusters of four consecutive cells that we call quartets. About 75% of initial heterocysts originated from either of the two outer cells of quartets at the start of nitrogen deprivation. These results suggest that the future heterocysts are loosely selected at early times after the start of nitrogen deprivation, before the commitment. Such early candidacy could be explained by different properties of the outer and inner cells of a quartet, but the molecular nature of candidacy remains to be uncovered.     

FtsZ may have dual roles in the filamentous cyanobacterium Nostoc/Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120

The cellular and subcellular localization of FtsZ, a bacterial cell division protein, were investigated in vegetative cells of the filamentous cyanobacterium Nostoc/Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120. We show by using immunogold-transmission electron microscopy that FtsZ forms a ring structure in a filamentous cyanobacterium, similar to observations in unicellular bacteria and chloroplasts. This finding, that the FtsZ in a filamentous cyanobacterium accumulates at the growing edge of the division septa leading to the formation of the typical prokaryotic Z-ring arrangement, is novel. Moreover, an apparent cytoplasmic distribution of FtsZ occurred in vegetative cells. During the transition of vegetative cells into terminally differentiated heterocysts the cytoplasmic FtsZ levels decreased substantially. These findings suggest a conserved function of FtsZ among prokaryotes, including filamentous cyanobacteria with cell differentiation capacity, and possibly a role of FtsZ as a cytoskeletal component in the cytoplasm.     

PrpJ, a PP2C-type protein phosphatase located on the plasma membrane, is involved in heterocyst maturation in the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120

Protein phosphatases play important roles in the regulation of cell growth, division and differentiation. The cyanobacterium Anabaena PCC 7120 is able to differentiate heterocysts specialized in nitrogen fixation. To protect the nitrogenase from inactivation by oxygen, heterocyst envelope possesses a layer of polysaccharide and a layer of glycolipids. In the present study, we characterized All1731 (PrpJ), a protein phosphatase from Anabaena PCC 7120. prpJ was constitutively expressed in both vegetative cells and heterocysts. Under diazotrophic conditions, the mutant DeltaprpJ (S20) did not grow, lacked only one of the two heterocyst glycolipids, and fragmented extensively at the junctions between developing cells and vegetative cells. No heterocyst glycolipid layer could be observed in the mutant by electron microscopy. The inactivation of prpJ affected the expression of hglE(A) and nifH, two genes necessary for the formation of the glycolipid layer of heterocysts and the nitrogenase respectively. PrpJ displayed a phosphatase activity characteristic of PP2C-type protein phosphatases, and was localized on the plasma membrane. The function of prpJ establishes a new control point for heterocyst maturation because it regulates the synthesis of only one of the two heterocyst glycolipids while all other genes so far analysed regulate the synthesis of both heterocyst glycolipids.     

Genome-Wide and Heterocyst-Specific Circadian Gene Expression in the Filamentous Cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. Strain PCC 7120

The filamentous, heterocystous cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 is one of the simplest multicellular organisms that show both morphological pattern formation with cell differentiation (heterocyst formation) and circadian rhythms. Therefore, it potentially provides an excellent model in which to analyze the relationship between circadian functions and multicellularity. However, detailed cyanobacterial circadian regulation has been intensively analyzed only in the unicellular species Synechococcus elongatus. In contrast to the highest-amplitude cycle in Synechococcus, we found that none of the kai genes in Anabaena showed high-amplitude expression rhythms. Nevertheless, ∼80 clock-controlled genes were identified. We constructed luciferase reporter strains to monitor the expression of some high-amplitude genes. The bioluminescence rhythms satisfied the three criteria for circadian oscillations and were nullified by genetic disruption of the kai gene cluster. In heterocysts, in which photosystem II is turned off, the metabolic and redox states are different from those in vegetative cells, although these conditions are thought to be important for circadian entrainment and timekeeping processes. Here, we demonstrate that circadian regulation is active in heterocysts, as shown by the finding that heterocyst-specific genes, such as all1427 and hesAB, are expressed in a robust circadian fashion exclusively without combined nitrogen.     

Heterocyst differentiation in the cyanobacterium Mastigocladus laminosus.

The morphological and ultrastructural aspects of heterocyst differentiation in the branching, filamentous cyanobacterium Mastigocladus laminosus were examined with light and electron microscopy. The earliest differentiation stages involved cytoplasmic changes, including (i) rapid degradation of carboxysomes, (ii) degradation of polysaccharide granules, and (iii) accumulation of electron-dense ribosomal or protein material (or both). Intermediate differentiation stages involved synthesis of a homogeneous extra wall layer, development of necks leading to adjacent cells, and elaboration of a complex system of intracytoplasmic membranes. Late differentiation stages included further development of necks and continued elaboration of membranes. Mature heterocysts possessed a uniformly electron-dense cytoplasm that contained large numbers of closely packed membranes, some of which were arranged in lamellar stacks. Mature heterocysts lacked all of the inclusion bodies present in undifferentiated vegetative cells, but contained a number of unusual spherical inclusions of variable electron density. Cells in both narrow and wide filaments were capable of differentiating. No regular heterocyst spacing pattern was observed in the narrow filaments; the number of vegetative cells between consecutive heterocysts of any given filament varied by a factor of 10. Heterocysts developed at a variety of locations in the wide, branching filaments, although the majority of them were situated adjacent to branch points. M. laminosus displayed a marked tendency to produce sets of adjacent heterocysts or proheterocysts (or both) that were not separated from each other by vegetative cells. Groups of four or more adjacent heterocysts or proheterocysts occurred frequently in wide filaments, and in some of these filaments virtually all of the cells appeared to be capable of differentiating into heterocysts.     

Effect of ammonia and sulfide on rifampicin-induced heterocyst formation inNostoc linckia

The effect of ammonia and sulfide on rifampicin-induced heterocyst differentiation was studied in the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteriumNostoc linckia. Aerobic growth with nitrogen gas of the cyanobacterium was greatly affected by rifampicin with formation of multiple heterocysts in chains in the filaments whereas ammonia in the medium reversed the rifampicin inhibition of growth and prevented the induction of heterocysts. In a sulfide medium the suppression exerted by rifampicin on aerobic growth with nitrogen gas and heterocyst induction was found to be considerably reduced. The results suggest two interesting points,viz. that (i) rifampicin interferes with the nitrogen-fixing function of heterocysts, and (ii) it checks the synthesis of an unknown heterocyst, inhibitor and thus permits the adjacent vegetative cells to differentiate into heterocysts in chains.