Browsing by Author "Huang, Da"

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    Phosphorus deficiency alleviates iron limitation in Synechocystis cyanobacteria through direct PhoB-mediated gene regulation
    (2024) Qiu, Guo Wei; Zheng, Wen Can; Yang, Hao Ming; Wang, Yu Ying; Qi, Xing; Huang, Da; Dai, Guo Zheng; Shi, Huazhong (TTU); Price, Neil M.; Qiu, Bao Sheng
    Iron and phosphorus are essential nutrients that exist at low concentrations in surface waters and may be co-limiting resources for phytoplankton growth. Here, we show that phosphorus deficiency increases the growth of iron-limited cyanobacteria (Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803) through a PhoB-mediated regulatory network. We find that PhoB, in addition to its well-recognized role in controlling phosphate homeostasis, also regulates key metabolic processes crucial for iron-limited cyanobacteria, including ROS detoxification and iron uptake. Transcript abundances of PhoB-targeted genes are enriched in samples from phosphorus-depleted seawater, and a conserved PhoB-binding site is widely present in the promoters of the target genes, suggesting that the PhoB-mediated regulation may be highly conserved. Our findings provide molecular insights into the responses of cyanobacteria to simultaneous iron/phosphorus nutrient limitation.