iDEC 2023 | Edinburgh

Exploring Salt Tolerance in Cyanobacteria

One of the main obstacles in harnessing the potential of cyanobacteria, and is their vulnerability to environmental stress, such as high salinity. A more robust set of genes to enhance environmental resistances is key to the commercial applications of any cell culture, as these organisms will have to withstand various harsh conditions as a means of optimizing their industrial applications. Edinburgh's iGEM project showed a perfect application of this, as we put cyanobacterial cultures into saline solutions to increase the conductivity of their growth medium and subsequently extract electrical energy.

In this project, we aim to overcome this obstacle by exploring the genetic basis of salt tolerance in cyanobacteria. We use random mutagenesis to generate variants of salt tolerant genes in a model cyanobacterium, Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. We focus on the gene ggps, the encoding gene for the enzyme glucosylglycerol phosphate synthase. This enzyme is responsible for the synthesis of glucosyl glycerol (GG), a molecule that helps cyanobacteria cope with osmotic pressure. We created a library of ggps mutants and screen for the best performers using a high-throughput assay in Escherichia coli, a fast-growing bacterium that can be easily manipulated.

Our project combines synthetic biology, molecular biology, and bioinformatics tools to create novel cyanobacterial variants with enhanced salt tolerance and biotechnological potential. We hope that our project will contribute to the advancement of cyanobacterial biotechnology and the development of sustainable solutions for global challenges. Explore our pages to learn more about the project, or visit our iGEM wiki for info on this site’s sister project.