Cyanothece PCC 7425
   
   
 
cyanothece image

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic prokaryotes with important roles in diverse aqueous environments. Many cyanobacteria can also fix nitrogen, a process biochemically incompatible with oxygenic photosynthesis. We are interested in the strategies employed by unicellular nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria to accommodate these processes, which the analysis of gene structure and regulation can help elucidate.

Cyanothece sp. PCC 7425 is a unicellular cyanobacterium isolated from rice fields in Senegal. Cyanothece 7425 cells are 3-4 ?m in length. Unlike some other Cyanothece strains, Cyanothece 7425 appears to be an obligate autotroph. Cyanothece may prove very important in biological hydrogen production, as it is missing the uptake hydrogenase enzyme.