title: Keeping in touch with PII: PII-interacting proteins in unicellular cyanobacteria.
abstract: PII protein is conserved among bacteria, archaea and plants, and is thought to function as a carbon/nitrogen balance sensor in these organisms. Recently, several proteins that specifically interact with PII, including a PII phosphatase (PphA), an amino acid biosynthetic enzyme (NAGK), a probable membrane channel (PamA) and a small protein (PipX) that also interacts with the nitrogen transcription factor NtcA, have been identified in the unicellular cyanobacteria Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942 and Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. These findings and subsequent analyses have suggested that PII protein controls carbon and nitrogen metabolism at the gene expression level as well as at the protein activity level. In this review, the functions of PII are envisaged based on functional analyses of the PII-interacting proteins identified in cyanobacteria.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0032 Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Osanai
authors.forename: Kan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanaka
mesh_terms: D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D045332:Photosystem II Protein Complex / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D010802:Phylogeny; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D045332:Photosystem II Protein Complex