FREE
This Article
FREE
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental material
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Related articles in JB
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Axmann, I. M.
Right arrow Articles by Wilde, A.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Axmann, I. M.
Right arrow Articles by Wilde, A.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, September 2009, p. 5342-5347, Vol. 191, No. 17
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00419-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Biochemical Evidence for a Timing Mechanism in Prochlorococcus{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Ilka M. Axmann,1* Ulf Dühring,2 Luiza Seeliger,2 Anne Arnold,2 Jens T. Vanselow,3 Achim Kramer,3 and Annegret Wilde4

Institute for Theoretical Biology,1 Institute of Biology, Humboldt University, Berlin,2 Laboratory of Chronobiology, Charité Universitätsmedizin, D-10115 Berlin,3 Institute for Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Justus Liebig University, D-35392 Gießen, Germany4

Received 27 March 2009/ Accepted 27 May 2009

Organisms coordinate biological activities into daily cycles using an internal circadian clock. The circadian oscillator proteins KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC are widely believed to underlie 24-h oscillations of gene expression in cyanobacteria. However, a group of very abundant cyanobacteria, namely, marine Prochlorococcus species, lost the third oscillator component, KaiA, during evolution. We demonstrate here that the remaining Kai proteins fulfill their known biochemical functions, although KaiC is hyperphosphorylated by default in this system. These data provide biochemical support for the observed evolutionary reduction of the clock locus in Prochlorococcus and are consistent with a model in which a mechanism that is less robust than the well-characterized KaiABC protein clock of Synechococcus is sufficient for biological timing in the very stable environment that Prochlorococcus inhabits.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute for Theoretical Biology, Charité Universitätsmedizin, Invalidenstraße 43, D-10115 Berlin, Germany. Phone: (49) 30 20939106. Fax: (49) 30 20938801. E-mail: ilka.axmann{at}charite.de

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 5 June 2009.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jb.asm.org/.

Journal of Bacteriology, September 2009, p. 5342-5347, Vol. 191, No. 17
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00419-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Related articles in JB:

The Rolex and the Hourglass: a Simplified Circadian Clock in Prochlorococcus?
Conrad W. Mullineaux and Ralf Stanewsky
JB 2009 191: 5333-5335. [Full Text]  



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Mullineaux, C. W., Stanewsky, R. (2009). The Rolex and the Hourglass: a Simplified Circadian Clock in Prochlorococcus?. J. Bacteriol. 191: 5333-5335 [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»