Metabolic engineering of photosynthetic organisms is required for utilization of light energy and for reducing carbon emissions. one of the most widely used species for the study of photosynthetic bacteria. The genome of 6803 was first determined in 1996 (1), and transcriptome and proteome analyses have been performed. Several genes have been identified whose mutations alter the metabolite levels of primary carbon metabolism (2C4). The engineering of carbon metabolism leads to Bmp8a modified production of various metabolites; however, the robust control of primary metabolism often obstructs such modification. For example, overexpression of the genes of eight enzymes in yeast cells did not increase ethanol formation or key metabolite levels (5). Several researchers have modified genes encoding transcriptional regulators instead of metabolic enzymes. Yanagisawa (6) generated transgenic plants expressing increased levels of the Dof1 transcription factor, which is an activator of gene expression associated with organic acid metabolism, including phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase. Overexpression of Dof1 resulted in increased enzymatic activities of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase and pyruvate kinase, increased metabolite levels, such as amino acids (asparagine, glutamine, and glutamate), and better growth under low nitrogen conditions (6). These results indicate that modification of transcriptional regulator(s) is practical for metabolic engineering. Primary carbon metabolism is divided into anabolic reactions, such buy Phenoxybenzamine HCl as the Calvin cycle and gluconeogenesis, and catabolic reactions, such as glycolysis and the oxidative pentose phosphate (OPP)2 pathway (7). buy Phenoxybenzamine HCl Glycogen, the carbon sink of most cyanobacteria, provides carbon sources and reducing power under heterotrophic conditions. Glycogen degradation is catalyzed by glycogen catabolic enzymes, such as glycogen phosphorylase (encoded by 6803 contains two (sll1356 and slr1367) and two (slr0237 and slr1857) genes (8). A metabolomic study showed that glucose produced from glycogen is degraded mainly through the OPP pathway under heterotrophic conditions (9). Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (Glc-6-PD, encoded by is essential for NADPH production during nighttime (10, 11). The transcript levels of genes of the OPP pathway are altered by light-dark transition, circadian cycle, or nitrogen status (12C14). Thus, sugar catabolic enzymes, including Glc-6-PD and 6PGD, are regulated at both the transcriptional and post-translational levels in cyanobacteria. factors, subunits of the bacterial RNA polymerase, are divided into four groups, and cyanobacteria are characterized by possessing multiple group 2 factors, whose promoter recognition is similar to group 1 factor (15, 16). Transcriptome analysis revealed that the disruption of (encoding transaldolase)), and two glycogen catabolic genes ((sll1356) and buy Phenoxybenzamine HCl (slr0237)) (12). SigE protein levels and activities are controlled in response to light signals (17). Phenotypic analysis showed that the disruption of results in decreased level of glycogen and reduced viability under dark conditions (12). Thus, transcriptome and phenotypic analyses indicate that SigE is a positive regulator of sugar catabolism, although proteomic and metabolomic analyses have not been performed. In this study, we generated a SigE-overexpressing strain and measured the transcript, protein, and metabolite levels and the phenotypes associated with sugar catabolism. We revealed that SigE overexpression activates the expressions of sugar catabolic enzymes and modifies the amounts of glycogen, acetyl-CoA, and metabolites of the TCA cycle. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES Bacterial Strains and Culture buy Phenoxybenzamine HCl Conditions The glucose-tolerant (GT) strain of sp. PCC 6803, isolated by Williams (18), and the SigE-overexpressing strain were grown in BG-110 liquid medium with 5 mm NH4Cl (buffered with 20 mm Hepes-KOH (pH 7.8)), termed modified BG-11 medium. Liquid cultures were bubbled with 1% (v/v) CO2 in air at 30 C under continuous white light (50C70 mol photons m?2 s?1) (19). For plate cultures, modified BG-110 (the concentration of NH4Cl was 10 mm instead of 5 mm in liquid medium) was solidified using 1.5% (w/v) agar (BD Biosciences) and incubated in air at 30 C under continuous white light ( 50C70 mol photons m?2 s?1). The null mutant of null mutant, 20 g/ml kanamycin (Sigma) was supplemented in the modified BG-11 liquid medium. Dark conditions were achieved by wrapping culture plates with aluminum foil. Growth and cell densities were measured at (sll1689) coding region was amplified.