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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2001, p. 782-790, Vol. 67, No. 2
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.2.782-790.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Cell Cycle Regulation by Light in Prochlorococcus Strains

Stéphan Jacquet,1,* Frédéric Partensky,1 Dominique Marie,1 Raffaella Casotti,2 and Daniel Vaulot1

Station Biologique, CNRS, INSU and Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, BP 74 F-29682 Roscoff, France1 and Stazione Zoologica "A. Dohrn," Villa Comunale, I-80121 Naples, Italy2

The effect of light on the synchronization of cell cycling was investigated in several strains of the oceanic photosynthetic prokaryote Prochlorococcus using flow cytometry. When exposed to a light-dark (L-D) cycle with an irradiance of 25 µmol of quanta · m-2 s-1, the low-light-adapted strain SS 120 appeared to be better synchronized than the high-light-adapted strain PCC 9511. Submitting L-D-entrained populations to shifts (advances or delays) in the timing of the "light on" signal translated to corresponding shifts in the initiation of the S phase, suggesting that this signal is a key parameter for the synchronization of population cell cycles. Cultures that were shifted from an L-D cycle to continuous irradiance showed persistent diel oscillations of flow-cytometric signals (light scatter and chlorophyll fluorescence) but with significantly reduced amplitudes and a phase shift. Complete darkness arrested most of the cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle, indicating that light is required to trigger the initiation of DNA replication and cell division. However, some cells also arrested in the S phase, suggesting that cell cycle controls in Prochlorococcus spp. are not as strict as in marine Synechococcus spp. Shifting Prochlorococcus cells from low to high irradiance translated quasi-instantaneously into an increase of cells in both the S and G2 phases of the cell cycle and then into faster growth, whereas the inverse shift induced rapid slowing of the population growth rate. These data suggest a close coupling between irradiance levels and cell cycling in Prochlorococcus spp.

* Corresponding author. Present address: Department of Microbiology, University of Bergen, Jahnebakken 5, P.O. Box 7800, N-5020 Bergen, Norway. Phone: 47 555 84 640. Fax: 47 555 89 671. E-mail: nimsj{at}im.uib.no.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2001, p. 782-790, Vol. 67, No. 2
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.2.782-790.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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