Dormancy: Illuminating How a Microbial Sleeping Beauty Awakens.
Nitrogen limitation induces dormancy in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis. During dormancy, the bacterium neither photosynthesizes nor divides, yet it maintains low-level metabolic activity. A new study shows how provision of a nitrogen source initiates a regimented genetic program that initially kick-starts metabolism and ultimately photosynthesis.
Institute for Microbiology, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany. Electronic address: gary.sawers@mikrobiologie.uni-halle.de.
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D009584:Nitrogen; D010788:Photosynthesis; D046939:Synechocystis
D009584:Nitrogen