The Transcriptional Cycle Is Suited to Daytime N ₂ Fixation in the Unicellular Cyanobacterium “ <i>Candidatus</i> Atelocyanobacterium thalassa” (UCYN-A)

Abstract

Symbiosis between a marine alga and a N₂-fixing cyanobacterium (<i>Cyanobacterium</i> UCYN-A) is geographically widespread in the oceans and is important in the marine N cycle. UCYN-A is uncultivated and is an unusual unicellular cyanobacterium because it lacks many metabolic functions, including oxygenic photosynthesis and carbon fixation, which are typical in cyanobacteria. It is now presumed to be an obligate symbiont of haptophytes closely related to <i>Braarudosphaera bigelowii</i> N₂-fixing cyanobacteria use different strategies to avoid inhibition of N₂ fixation by the oxygen evolved in photosynthesis. Most unicellular cyanobacteria temporally separate the two incompatible activities by fixing N₂ only at night, but, surprisingly, UCYN-A appears to fix N₂ during the day. The goal of this study was to determine how the unicellular UCYN-A strain coordinates N₂ fixation and general metabolism compared to other marine cyanobacteria. We found that UCYN-A has distinct daily cycles of many genes despite the fact that it lacks two of the three circadian clock genes found in most cyanobacteria. We also found that the transcription patterns in UCYN-A are more similar to those in marine cyanobacteria that are capable of aerobic N₂ fixation in the light, such as <i>Trichodesmium</i> and heterocyst-forming cyanobacteria, than to those in <i>Crocosphaera</i> or <i>Cyanothece</i> species, which are more closely related to unicellular marine cyanobacteria evolutionarily. Our findings suggest that the symbiotic interaction has resulted in a shift of transcriptional regulation to coordinate UCYN-A metabolism with that of the phototrophic eukaryotic host, thus allowing efficient coupling of N₂ fixation (by the cyanobacterium) to the energy obtained from photosynthesis (by the eukaryotic unicellular alga) in the light.<b>IMPORTANCE</b> The symbiotic N₂-fixing cyanobacterium UCYN-A, which is closely related to <i>Braarudosphaera bigelowii</i>, and its eukaryotic algal host have been shown to be globally distributed and important in open-ocean N₂ fixation. These unique cyanobacteria have reduced metabolic capabilities, even lacking genes for oxygenic photosynthesis and carbon fixation. Cyanobacteria generally use energy from photosynthesis for nitrogen fixation but require mechanisms for avoiding inactivation of the oxygen-sensitive nitrogenase enzyme by ambient oxygen (O₂) or the O₂ evolved through photosynthesis. This study showed that symbiosis between the N₂-fixing cyanobacterium UCYN-A and its eukaryotic algal host has led to adaptation of its daily gene expression pattern in order to enable daytime aerobic N₂ fixation, which is likely more energetically efficient than fixing N₂ at night, as found in other unicellular marine cyanobacteria.