High Throughput Proteomic Approaches for the Dissection of Light Signal Transduction Pathways in Photosynthetic Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp.PCC 6803

Light is an environmental signal that regulates photomovement and main energy source of photosynthesis in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 (Syn6803). Syn6803 is a popular model system for study of plant functional genomics. In this report, we adopted 2D gel based proteomics study to investigate proteins related with the light absorption and photo-protection in Syn6803. More than 700 proteins were detected on the SDS-gels stained with silver nitrate. Several proteins showing different expression level under various light conditions were identified with MALDI-TOF Mass spectrometry. As a comparison, we also conducted ICAT-based proteome study using WT and cphl (cyanobacterial phytochrome 1) mutant. A cphl deletion led to changes in the expression of proteins involved in translation, photosynthesis including photosystem and CO2 fixation, and cellular regulation. We are currently involved in TAP-tagging method to study protein-protein interactions in search for the molecular component involved in the light signal transduction of Syn6803 photomovement.