Transcriptome of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 strains with high light tolerance

Several strains with increased high light tolerance were previously generated by adaptive laboratory evolution from Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 WT strain. The high light tolerance in each strain was caused by a few non-synonymous point mutations. Reintroduction of the corresponding point mutation in WT conferred enhanced tolerance to high light. Here, we characterized the responses at the transcriptional level using RNA-Seq approach to identify genes associated with the HL tolerance. The pre-cultured Synechocystis cells under control light (50 μmol photons per m-2 s-1) were harvested, and inoculated into fresh liquid BG11 medium at an OD = 0.05 to grow photoautotrophically under control light , moderate high light (700 μmol photons per m-2 s-1) or strong high light (1,200 μmol photons per m-2 s-1) for one week. Three biological replicates of each strain under different light conditions were collected. And then, the RNA were extracted from all samples and used for RNA-Seq analysis.