Sll1783, a monooxygenase associated with polysaccharide processing in the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC 6803

Cyanobacteria play a pivotal role as the primary producer in many aquatic ecosystems. The knowledge on the interacting processes of cyanobacteria with its environment - abiotic and biotic factors - is still very limited. Many potential exocytoplasmic proteins in the model unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC 6803 have unknown functions and their study is essential to improve our understanding of this photosynthetic organism and its potential for biotechnology use. Here we characterize a deletion mutant of Synechocystis PCC 6803, Delta sll1783, a strain that showed a remarkably high light resistance which is related with its lower thylakoid membrane formation. Our results suggests Sll1783 to be involved in a mechanism of polysaccharide degradation and uptake and we hypothesize it might function as a sensor for cell density in cyanobacterial cultures.