Clustered Genes Required for the Synthesis of Heterocyst Envelope Polysaccharide in Anabaena sp. Strain PCC 7120

As demonstrated with alr2835 (hepA) and alr2834 (hepC) mutants, heterocysts of Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120, a filamentous cyanobacterium, must have an envelope polysaccharide layer (the Hep+ phenotype) to fix dinitrogen in an oxygen-containing milieu (the Fox+ phenotype). Transpositions presumptively responsible for a Fox- phenotype were localized in open reading frames (ORFs) near hepA and hepC. A mutation in each of nine of these ORFs was complemented by a clone bearing only that single, intact ORF. Heterocysts of the nine mutants were found to lack an envelope polysaccharide layer. Complementation of mutations in alr2832 and alr2840 may have resulted from recombination. However, alr2825, alr2827, alr2831, alr2833, alr2837, alr2839, and alr2841, like hepA and hepC, are required for a Hep+ Fox+ phenotype.