Deciphering cyanobacterial phenotypes for fast photoautotrophic growth via isotopically nonstationary metabolic flux analysis.

This study employed flux analysis to investigate phenotypic heterogeneity among two cyanobacterial strains with near-identical genome background. The flux/metabolite profiling, biomass composition analysis, and genetic modification results elucidate a highly effective metabolic topology for CO2 assimilatory and biosynthesis in Synechococcus 2973. Comparisons across multiple Synechococcus strains indicate faster metabolism is also driven by proportional increases in both photosynthesis and key central pathway fluxes. Moreover, the flux distribution in Synechococcus 2973 supports the use of its strong sugar phosphate pathways for optimal bio-productions. The integrated methodologies in this study can be applied for characterizing non-model microbial metabolism.