Bacteria Genomes - GLOEOBACTER VIOLACEUS

Gloeobacter violaceus PCC 7421 is a unicellular cyanobacterium. Cyanobacteria are Gram-negative photoautotrophic, aquatic and photosynthetic, (which results in them being labelled blue-green algae) they live in the water and can manufacture their own food, they are quite small and usually unicellular, though they often grow in colonies large enough to be visible with the human eye.

Gloeobacter violaceus performs photosynthesis in a different part of the cell than other cyanobacteria.

Comparison of the assigned gene components with those of other cyanobacteria has unveiled distinctive features of the G. violaceus genome. Genes for PsaI, PsaJ, PsaK, and PsaX for Photosystem I and PsbY, PsbZ and Psb27 for Photosystem II were missing, and those for PsaF, PsbO, PsbU, and PsbV were poorly conserved. cpcG for a rod core linker peptide for phycobilisomes and nblA related to the degradation of phycobilisomes were also missing. Potential signal peptides of the presumptive products of petJ and petE for soluble electron transfer catalysts were less conserved than the remaining portions. These observations may be related to the fact that photosynthesis in G. violaceus takes place not in thylakoid membranes but in the cytoplasmic membrane.

A large number of genes for sigma factors and transcription factors in the LuxR, LysR, PadR, TetR, and MarR families could be identified, while those for major elements for circadian clock, kaiABC were not found.

The sequenced strain pcc 7421was found in rock in Switzerland.

Phylogenetic analysis using multiple criteria strongly suggest that this strain is a member of early branching lineage.

DNA Res , 10 (4):137-45 (2003)
DNA Res. 10:181-201(2003)
http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/sequenced_genomes/genome_guide_p1a.shtml
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/bacteria/cyanointro.html