Unveiling salinity effects on photo-bioelectrocatalysis through combination of bioinformatics and electrochemistry.

Little is known about the adaptation strategies utilized by photosynthetic microorganisms to cope with salinity changes happening in the environment, and the effects on microbial electrochemical technologies. Herein, bioinformatics analysis revealed a metabolism shift in resulting from salt stress, with changes in gene expression allowing accumulation of compatible solutes to balance osmotic pressure, together with the up-regulation of the nitrogen fixation cycle, an electron sink of the photosynthetic electron transfer chain. Using the transcriptome evidence of hindered electron transfer in the photosynthetic electron transport chain induced by adaption to salinity, increased understanding of photo-bioelectrocatalysis under salt stress is achieved.