Preventing Accidental Heterocyst Development in Cyanobacteria

The filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena can form heterocysts specialized in N-2 fixation, mostly through a cascade of transcriptional activation in response to the nitrogen starvation signal 2-oxoglutarate. It is reported now that a transcription repressor, CalA, acts as a safety device to prevent heterocyst development under certain conditions where the 2-oxoglutarate level may touch the threshold to trigger unnecessary initiation of heterocyst development. Such a control may increase the fitness of Anabaena under a constantly changing environment.