FURI | Spring 2021

Enhancing Natural Genetic Transformation in Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 via Multimeric Integration

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic organisms and reliable sources of renewable feedstocks. Specifically, Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 is a marine strain of Cyanobacteria that is naturally capable of foreign DNA uptake. Replicating plasmids are traditionally delivered to this strain via conjugation, requiring direct cell-to-cell contact. This method is time-consuming and not easily scalable, therefore this research aims to optimize a protocol for an alternative gene delivery technique. Multimeric integration is possible in other naturally transformable bacteria, but has not yet been tested in cyanobacteria. Constructing multimeric plasmids and identifying optimal growth conditions will potentially enhance industrial applications of genetic transformation in cyanobacteria.