PROTEIN-PHOSPHORYLATION AND ITS POSSIBLE INVOLVEMENT IN THE INDUCTIONOF THE HIGH-AFFINITY CO2 CONCENTRATING MECHANISM IN CYANOBACTERIA

Cyanobacteria as well as eukaryotic algae possess a CO2 concentrating mechanism that enables the cells to use low CO2 concentrations very ef ficiently for photosynthesis. The efficiency of the CO2 concentrating mechanism changes in response to environmental changes, especially the availability of inorganic carbon, but the underlying mechanisms that are involved in the regulation of the induction are unknown. This revi ew deals with the occurrence of protein phosphorylation in cyanobacter ia and highlights the possible involvement of post-translational modif ications of existing proteins in the induction process, which leads to a high-affinity state of the CO2 concentrating mechanism.