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Journal of Bacteriology, February 2007, p. 1013-1024, Vol. 189, No. 3
0021-9193/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01328-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Involvement of the cynABDS Operon and the CO₂-Concentrating Mechanism in the Light-Dependent Transport and Metabolism of Cyanate by Cyanobacteria

Department of Biology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario L5L 1C6, Canada

Received 21 August 2006/ Accepted 13 November 2006

The cyanobacteria Synechococcus elongatus strain PCC7942 and Synechococcus sp. strain UTEX625 decomposed exogenously supplied cyanate (NCO^–) to CO₂ and NH₃ through the action of a cytosolic cyanase which required HCO₃^– as a second substrate. The ability to metabolize NCO^– relied on three essential elements: proteins encoded by the cynABDS operon, the biophysical activity of the CO₂-concentrating mechanism (CCM), and light. Inactivation of cynS, encoding cyanase, and cynA yielded mutants unable to decompose cyanate. Furthermore, loss of CynA, the periplasmic binding protein of a multicomponent ABC-type transporter, resulted in loss of active cyanate transport. Competition experiments revealed that native transport systems for CO₂, HCO₃^–, NO₃^–, NO₂^–, Cl^–, PO₄^2–, and SO₄^2– did not contribute to the cellular flux of NCO^– and that CynABD did not contribute to the flux of these nutrients, implicating CynABD as a novel primary active NCO^– transporter. In the S. elongatus strain PCC7942 chpX chpY mutant that is defective in the full expression of the CCM, mass spectrometry revealed that the cellular rate of cyanate decomposition depended upon the size of the internal inorganic carbon (C_i) (HCO₃^– + CO₂) pool. Unlike wild-type cells, the rate of NCO^– decomposition by the chpX chpY mutant was severely depressed at low external C_i concentrations, indicating that the CCM was essential in providing HCO₃^– for cyanase under typical growth conditions. Light was required to activate and/or energize the active transport of both NCO^– and C_i. Putative cynABDS operons were identified in the genomes of diverse Proteobacteria, suggesting that CynABDS-mediated cyanate metabolism is not restricted to cyanobacteria.

Published ahead of print on 22 November 2006.