Transcriptomic response to prolonged ethanol production in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC6803.

Background: The production of biofuels in photosynthetic microalgae and cyanobacteria is a promising alternative to the generation of fuels from fossil resources. To be economically competitive, producer strains need to be established that synthesize the targeted product at high yield and over a long time. Engineering cyanobacteria into forced fuel producers should considerably interfere with overall cell homeostasis, which in turn might counteract productivity and sustainability of the process.

Targeted knockout in Physcomitrella reveals direct actions of phytochrome in the cytoplasm.

The plant photoreceptor phytochrome plays an important role in the nucleus as a regulator of transcription. Numerous studies imply, however, that phytochromes in both higher and lower plants mediate physiological reactions within the cytoplasm. In particular, the tip cells of moss protonemal filaments use phytochrome to sense light direction, requiring a signaling system that transmits the directional information directly to the microfilaments that direct tip growth.