Cyanobacterial Bioenergetics in Relation to Cellular Growth and Productivity

Abstract

Cyanobacteria, the evolutionary originators of oxygenic photosynthesis, have the capability to convert CO₂, water, and minerals into biomass using solar energy. This process is driven by intricate bioenergetic mechanisms that consist of interconnected photosynthetic and respiratory electron transport chains coupled. Over the last few decades, advances in physiochemical analysis, molecular genetics, and structural analysis have enabled us to gain a more comprehensive understanding of cyanobacterial bioenergetics. This includes the molecular understanding of the primary energy conversion mechanisms as well as photoprotective and other dissipative mechanisms that prevent photodamage when the rates of photosynthetic output, primarily in the form of ATP and NADPH, exceed the rates that cellular assimilatory processes consume these photosynthetic outputs. Despite this progress, there is still much to learn about the systems integration and the regulatory circuits that control expression levels for optimal cellular abundance and activity of the photosynthetic complexes and the cellular components that convert their products into biomass. With an improved understanding of these regulatory principles and mechanisms, it should be possible to optimally modify cyanobacteria for enhanced biotechnological purposes.

Keywords: ATP; Anabolic; Catabolic; Chlorophyll fluorescence; Cyanobacteria; Cyclic electron flow; Electron transfer; Light harvesting; Membrane bioenergetics; Metabolic flux analysis; NADPH; Optimal growth theory; Oxygenic photosynthesis; Phosphorylation; Photosystem; Phycobilisomes; Reduction; Sink capacity.