Oceanic photosynthesis is directly affected by cyanophage NblA proteins - N-termimoe changes

Marine picocyanobacteria are abundant photosynthetic organisms of global importance. They coexist in the ocean with cyanophages, viruses that infect cyanobacteria. Cyanophages carry many auxiliary metabolic genes acquired from their hosts that are thought to redirect host metabolism for the phage’s benefit. One such gene is nblA which is present in multiple cyanophage families. Under nutrient deprivation the cyanobacterial NblA is responsible for inducing proteolytic degradation of the phycobilisome, the large cyanobacterial photosynthetic light harvesting complex. Here we characterized cleavages induced in the cyanobacteria Synechococcus sp. strain WH8109 upon overexpression of the S-TIP37 cyanophage NblA gene compared to cells without NblA overexpression