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Synechococcus-Azotobacter Photoproduction Mutualism

Community ID CommunityMech:000207
Ecological State ENGINEERED
Environment illuminated laboratory photobioreactor coculture
ENVO:01001405

A designed two-member light-driven microbial mutualism pairing sucrose-exporting cscB Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 with the diazotroph Azotobacter vinelandii AV3. The engineered cyanobacterium fixes carbon under illumination and exports sucrose, while A. vinelandii fixes nitrogen and can produce industrially relevant biopolymers such as polyhydroxybutyrate and alginate. The coculture was engineered to grow without added fixed carbon or fixed nitrogen and is relevant to DOE interests in photosynthetic bioproduction, carbon utilization, and nitrogen self-sufficient synthetic consortia.

Taxonomy

Taxon Ontology ID Functional Roles Abundance
Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 cscB NCBITaxon:1140
PRIMARY_PRODUCER CROSS_FEEDER
DOMINANT
  • PMID:27232890 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942"
  • PMID:27232890 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "cscB Synechococcus elongatus"
Azotobacter vinelandii AV3 NCBITaxon:354
CROSS_FEEDER
COMMON
  • PMID:27232890 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "Azotobacter vinelandii AV3"
  • PMID:27232890 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "a diazotroph, Azotobacter vinelandii"

Ecological Interactions

Ecological interaction network for Synechococcus-Azotobacter Photoproduction Mutualism Bipartite graph where circle nodes represent taxa and colored rectangles represent ecological interactions (cross-feeding, mutualism, syntrophy, competition, commensalism).
Taxon
Cross-feeding
Mutualism
Syntrophy
Competition
Commensalism
Niche partitioning
Colonization facilitation
Strain competition
Predation

Photosynthetic Sucrose Transfer To Azotobacter

CROSS_FEEDING

Source Taxon: Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 cscB

Target Taxon: Azotobacter vinelandii AV3

Metabolites: carbon dioxide (CHEBI:16526), sucrose (CHEBI:17992)

Biological Processes:

Evidence

  • PMID:27232890 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "cannot grow in the absence of a sucrose-exporting S. elongatus"
  • PMID:27232890 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "We investigate the growth of a photosynthetic cyanobacterium"

Diazotrophic Nitrogen Support

MUTUALISM

Source Taxon: Azotobacter vinelandii AV3

Target Taxon: Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 cscB

Metabolites: nitrogen (CHEBI:17997)

Biological Processes:

Evidence

  • PMID:27232890 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "a diazotroph, Azotobacter vinelandii"
  • PMID:27232890 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "neither organism can grow alone without fixed carbon or nitrogen"

Light-Driven PHB Production

MUTUALISM

Source Taxon: Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 cscB

Target Taxon: Azotobacter vinelandii AV3

Metabolites: poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (CHEBI:53389)

Biological Processes:

Evidence

  • PMID:27232890 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "We demonstrate the ability of the coculture to produce PHB in this work."
  • PMID:27232890 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "industrially relevant products, such as polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and alginate"

External Resources

Name Repository Resource ID
Exact-system primary publication - A. vinelandii/S. elongatus photoproduction coculture
Primary publication reporting the designed A. vinelandii AV3 and cscB S. elongatus mutualism for PHB photoproduction. 		OTHER PMID:27232890
  • PMID:27232890 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "A Designed A. vinelandii-S. elongatus Coculture for Chemical Photoproduction"
Exact-system DOI landing page
DOI landing page for the same ACS Synthetic Biology exact-system publication. 		OTHER doi:10.1021/acssynbio.6b00107
  • PMID:27232890 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "A Designed A. vinelandii-S. elongatus Coculture for Chemical Photoproduction"

Environmental Factors

Factor Value Unit
Illumination sunlight or laboratory illumination N/A
  • PMID:27232890 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "from air, water, phosphate, trace metals, and sunlight"
Absence of fixed carbon and nitrogen no added fixed carbon or fixed nitrogen N/A
  • PMID:27232890 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "grows in the absence of fixed carbon or nitrogen"
Trace metals trace metals as inorganic input N/A
  • PMID:27232890 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "from air, water, phosphate, trace metals, and sunlight"

Growth Media

Light-driven Synechococcus-Azotobacter coculture

Atmosphere AEROBIC

Composition

Component Concentration Unit CHEBI
carbon dioxide N/A N/A CHEBI:16526
nitrogen N/A N/A CHEBI:17997
water N/A N/A CHEBI:15377
sucrose N/A N/A CHEBI:17992

Preparation notes: The primary abstract supports a designed coculture grown without fixed carbon or nitrogen and supplied conceptually by air, water, phosphate, trace metals, and sunlight; this record does not assert the complete salts, induction, or incubation protocol.

Evidence

PMID:27232890

"grows in the absence of fixed carbon or nitrogen"

PMID:27232890

"from air, water, phosphate, trace metals, and sunlight"