CyanoPhosphoProteomics: A search for novel signaling and regulatory pathways in cyanobacteria 

Research of photosynthetic organisms, with its potential for development of a renewable and CO2-neutral energy system, has become increasingly important in the last decade and attracted significant attention of the society.  Cyanobacteria are among the most important candidates for the efficient production of targeted chemicals and fuels because they can produce desirable compounds using only sunlight, water and inorganic nutrients. The present project intends to reveal in cyanobacteria hidden pathways of regulation and signaling which are based on Ser/Thr and Tyr protein phosphorylation. The aim of the research is to investigate cyanobacterial phosphoproteins in order to i) discover novel protein phosphorylation sites, ii) study dynamics of protein phosphorylation events in response to various environmental stimuli, iii) assign links between phosphoproteins and corresponding kinases, and iv) find out how the phosphorylation signal is processed and reflected in intracellular changes. In order to stimulate various signaling pathways, cells will be challenged by environmental stresses (light/darkness, carbon, nitrogen and other nutrients limitations). Phosphoproteins will be examined using innovative quantitative and targeted mass spectrometry, molecular biology and genetic engineering methods aiming to get novel insights into a complicated network of the post-translational regulation and signaling. Exploration of cyanobacterial phosphoproteomes will significantly expand our knowledge of fundamental processes occurring in blue-green alga, such as oxygenic photosynthesis, nitrogen fixation, CO2 uptake, hydrogen production, cell differentiation, etc., and will lead to novel technological applications.