Adaptation mechanisms in cyanobacteria
General Theme
Cyanobacteria are ancient organisms with a remarkable capacity to adapt to fluctuating environmental conditions, enabling them to colonize a wide range of ecosystems. Our research focuses on uncovering the regulatory and adaptive mechanisms that control cyanobacterial metabolism at the molecular level. We address these fundamental questions by analyzing how unicellular cyanobacteria respond to nutrient starvation.
We focus on how unicellular cyanobacteria respond to nutrient starvation by entering a reversible state of metabolic dormancy. Using Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 as a model system, we investigate how cells shut down their metabolism, survive prolonged stress, and rapidly awaken when nutrients become available again.
A central theme of our work is the role of intracellular reserve polymers during metabolic reactivation. We study how glycogen, the main carbon and energy store, and polyphosphate, a key phosphate and energy reserve, support the transition from dormancy back to growth. By dissecting the regulation of glycogen- and polyphosphate-associated enzymes, we aim to understand how cyanobacteria tightly coordinate metabolism to ensure survival and adaptation.
team
Group Leader Researcher
Researcher
Technician
PhD student
Latest publications
S. Samir*, S. Doello*, E. Zimmer, et al., “The second messenger c-di-AMP controls natural competence via ComFB signaling protein,” Cell Discovery, 2025. doi:
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41421-025-00816-x.
S. Doello*§, J. Sauerwein, N. Manteuffel, et al., “Metabolite-level regulation of enzymatic activity controls awakening of cyanobacteria from metabolic dormancy,” Current Biology, vol. 35, pp. 77–86, 2025. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.11.011
S. Doello*§, D. Shvarev*, M. Theune, et al., “Structural basis of the allosteric regulation of
cyanobacterial glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase by the redox sensor OpcA,” PNAS, vol. 121, e2411604121, 2024. doi: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2411604121.
S. Doello* and K. Forchhammer, “Microbial ecophysiology: Shedding light on the re-greening of chlorotic cyanobacteria,” Current Biology, 2024. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.08.030.
K. Lee*, S. Doello, M. Hagemann, and K. Forchhammer, “Deciphering the tight metabolite-level regulation of glucose-1-phosphate adenylyltransferase (GlgC) for glycogen synthesis in cyanobacteria,” FEBS Journal, 2024. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/febs.17348.