Transcriptional Regulation of Anabaena 7120 response to Nitrogen Deprivation

Here, we report the transcriptome of Anabaena sp. strain 7120, a cyanobacterium that forms specialized nitrogen-fixing cells called heterocysts. Our data suggests that cyanobacteria frequently have more complex transcripts than thought, with large 5' UTRs, numerous antisense transcripts, and multiple transcriptional start sites or processing sites. Four samples of total filament RNA were sequenced with Illumina 40bp reads using directional RNA sequencing (see the Illumina small RNA prep protocol). The samples are 0hr (vegetative cells grown in the presence of ammonia) and 6hr, 12hr, and 21hr cells (after nitrogen step down).