Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803
A non-pathogenic photosynthetic cyanobacterium. It runs on light and CO2, so biosensors built in it are self-powered — ideal for long-term, deployable environmental and water-quality monitoring without added nutrients.
Identity
- Species
- Synechocystis sp.
- Strain
- PCC 6803
- NCBI taxid
- 1148
- Genome
- GCF_000009725.1
Safety
- Biosafety level
- BSL-1
- Pathogenic
- No
- GRAS
- No
- Biocontainment
- Light/CO2-dependent growth limits survival; auxotrophic and inducible-essential containment demonstrated.
- BSL-1 basis
- ABSA Risk Group 1; widely used non-pathogenic model cyanobacterium.
Photoautotroph — self-powered; naturally transformable.
Traits
- Gram
- negative
- Oxygen
- aerobe
- Optimal temp
- 30 °C
- Doubling time
- ~600 min
- Spore-forming
- No
- Transformable
- Yes
Engineering
- CRISPR tooling
- dCas9 CRISPRi established in Synechocystis (Yao et al. 2016).
- Common promoters
- Pcpc560 (strong), PpsbA2 (light), Ptrc
- Selection markers
- KanR, SpcR, CmR
- Toolkits
- CyanoGate (MoClo)
Biosensors using this chassis
Self-powered arsenic sensor (ArsR + CRISPRi)
A self-powered water arsenic sensor. The native cyanobacterial ArsR regulator gates a CRISPRi circuit driving a fluorescent reporter, in photosynthetic Synechocystis — which runs on light and CO2, so it can be deployed long-term without added nutrients.
Self-powered phosphate sensor (SphS/SphR + CRISPRa)
A self-powered sensor for phosphate status in water (eutrophication-relevant). The native cyanobacterial SphS/SphR phosphate two-component system gates a CRISPRa circuit driving a fluorescent reporter, in photosynthetic Synechocystis.
Water nitrogen sensor (NtcA + CRISPRa)
A self-powered sensor for nitrogen status in water bodies (relevant to eutrophication and algal blooms). The native cyanobacterial NtcA nitrogen regulator gates a CRISPRa circuit driving a fluorescent reporter, in the photosynthetic chassis Synechocystis — which runs on light and CO2.