Mechanosensitive ion channel MscL controls ionic fluxes during cold and heat stress in Synechocystis

Calcium plays an essential role in a variety of stress responses of eukaryotic cells; however, its function in prokaryotes is obscure. Bacterial ion channels that transport Ca2+ are barely known. We investigated temperature-induced changes in intracellular concentration of Ca2+, Na+ and K+ in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 and its mutant that is defective in mechanosensitive ion channel MscL. Concentration of cations rapidly and transiently increased in wild-type cells in response to cold and heat treatments. These changes in ionic concentrations correlated with the changes in cytoplasmic volume that transiently decreased in response to temperature treatments. However, no increase in ionic concentrations was observed in the MscL-mutant cells. It implies that MscL functions as a non-specific ion channel, and it participates in regulation of cell volume under temperature-stress conditions.