Viral NblA proteins negatively affect oceanic cyanobacterial photosynthesis.

ABSTRACT: Marine picocyanobacteria are abundant photosynthetic organisms of global importance. They coexist in the ocean with cyanophages-viruses that infect cyanobacteria. Cyanophages carry many auxiliary metabolic genes acquired from their hosts that are thought to redirect host metabolism for the phage's benefit^1-5. One such gene is nblA, which is present in multiple cyanophage families^2,6-8. Under nutrient deprivation cyanobacterial NblA is responsible for inducing proteolytic degradation of the phycobilisome^9-11, the large cyanobacterial photosynthetic light-harvesting complex. This increases the pool of amino acids available for essential tasks¹¹, serving as a survival mechanism¹². Ectopic expression of different cyanophage nblA genes resu

SUBMITTER: Nadel O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12695635 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature