Dynamics of the response of cyanobacteria to salt stress: Deciphering the molecular events

Cyanobacteria, the only prokaryotes performing oxygenic photosynthesis and probable ancestors of chloroplasts, constitute valuable models for the study of the molecular mechanisms involved in tolerance to high salinity, or to its corollary, drought, a major agricultural problem. The critical demands of cyanobacteria exposed to high salinity, i.e., accumulation of osmoprotectors and extrusion of sodium ions, are met through immediate activation and/or long term (protein synthesis-dependent) adaptation of various processes: (1) uptake and endogenous biosynthesis of osmotica, the nature and amount of which are strain- and salt concentration-dependent; (2) enhancement of P-ATPase activity and active extrusion of sodium ions; (3) probable modifications of membrane lipid composition; and (4) increased energetic capacity, at the level of cyclic electron flow around photosystem I (through routes induced under these conditions) and cytochrome c oxidase. The processes involved highlight similarities with general stress responses and with salt stress responses in plants. Deciphering the molecular and genetic events regulating these coordinated responses is presently starting in cyanobacteria.