PROGRAM

The local organizers of the 11th EWBC are pleased to announce that the BioCyc.org microbial genomes web portal will be presented at the workshop, and a tutorial on how to use BioCyc will also be provided. BioCyc contains predicted metabolic pathways for each organism, enhanced with a range of data imported from other bioinformatics databases.
BioCyc also provides an extensive set bioinformatics tools that include genome informatics (e.g., genome browser and comparative genome browser), metabolic pathway informatics (e.g., metabolic route search tool and zoomable metabolic maps), regulatory informatics, and omics data analysis (e.g., painting transcriptomics and metabolomics data onto pathway diagrams and metabolic map diagrams). BioCyc.org has recently made available a few curated cyanobacterial databases.
 

Indicated times are Western European Summer Time (WEST TIME).

MONDAY, 7TH OF SEPTEMBER 2020

10:00-10:15

WELCOME

OPENING LECTURE

10:15-10:45

Cyanobacteria toxins and other secondary metabolites: the good, the bad and
the ugly
Vítor Vasconcelos, CIIMAR, Universidade do Porto

SESSION I. EVOLUTION AND PHYLOGENY

Chair: Annick Wilmotte, University of Liège, Belgium

INVITED LECTURE

10:45-11:15

Evolution of multicellularity traits in cyanobacteria: a phylogenomics
perspective

Tal Dagan, Kiel University, Germany

SELECTED LECTURES

11:15-11:35

Micro and macro diversity are both important to bloom-forming cyanobacteria
interactions with their phages

Sarit Avrani, University of Haifa, Israel

11:35-11:55

Distribution of natural competence in cyanobacteria
Fabian Nies, Kiel University, Germany

11:55-12:15

Population structure of cosmopolitan cyanobacterium Microcoleus
Petr Dvořák, Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic

12:15-12:45

Break

SESSION II. ECOLOGY AND INTERACTIONS WITH THE ENVIRONMENT

Chair: Pedro Leão, CIIMAR, University of Porto, Portugal

INVITED LECTURE

12:45-13:15

Genomic insights into natural product biosynthesis by toxic cyanobacteria
David Fewer, HELSUS – Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science, Finland

13:15-14:30

Lunch

SELECTED LECTURES

14:30-14:50

Effect of stress in the production and content of Synechococcus marine vesicles
Maria del Carmen Muñoz-Marín, Universidad de Córdoba, Spain

14:50-15:10

Characterization of new families of water-soluble carotenoid binding proteins in cyanobacteria
Maria A. Dominguez-Martin, LBNL Berkeley, USA

15:10-15:30

Beyond microcystins, aeruginoguanidines and microguanidines in Microcystis
Muriel Gugger, Institut Pasteur, France

15:30-15:50

Divergent features of the polysaccharidic matrix of three biocrust-forming
cyanobacteria cultivated in liquid culture and on sandy substrate

Roberto De Philippis, University of Florence, Italy

15:50-16:20

Break

SESSION III. GENE REGULATION

Chair: Iris Maldener, University of Tübingen, Germany

SELECTED LECTURES

16:20-16:40

Regulation of a subtype III-D CRISPR-Cas system in the
cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

Raphael Bilger, University of Freiburg, Germany

16:40-17:00

Collective behavior of circadian clocks in Anabaena multicellular filaments
Rinat Arbel-Goren, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

17:00-17:20

An sRNA originating from the 3’end of the allophycocyanin operon mediates the inverse regulation between light harvesting and photoprotection through the orange carotenoid protein
Diana Kirilovsky, Université Paris-Saclay, France

17:20-17:40

Structure and functions of cyanobacterial RNA polymerase 
Yulia Yuzenkova, Newcastle University, UK

17:40-18:00

Break

18:00-18:20

DNA-methylation is involved in the regulation of transcription, fine-tuning of
DNA replication and DNA repair in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis 6803

Martin Hagemann, University of Rostock, Germany

18:20-18:40

Linking energy sensing with CO2homeostasis in cyanobacteria: unravelling the SbtB-based network
Khaled A. Selim, Tübingen University, Germany

18:40-19:00

BioCyc: A Genomic and Metabolic Web Portal with Multiple Omics Analytical Tools
Peter Karp, Bioinformatics Research Group, SRI, California, USA

19:00-

POSTER SESSION

TUESDAY, 8TH OF SEPTEMBER 2020

SESSION III. GENE REGULATION

Chair: Iris Maldener, University of Tübingen, Germany

INVITED LECTURE

10:00-10:30

FUR proteins in Anabaena sp. PCC7120: beyond the control of metal homeostasis
Maria Fillat, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain

SESSION IV. PHYSIOLOGY AND CELL BIOLOGY

Chairs: Annegret Wilde, University of Freiburg, Germany & Asunción Contreras, Unversity of
Alicante, Spain

SELECTED LECTURES

10:30-10:50

Direct connection of Photosystem II biogenesis and tetrapyrrole biosynthesis
established via the photosynthesis-related rubredoxin RubA

Éva Kiss, Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic

10:50-11:10

Biofilm self-suppression mechanism uncovers a cyanobacterial component
required for pilus assembly, DNA competence and protein secretion

Rakefet Schwarz, Bar-Ilan University, Israel

11:10-11:30

Deciphering the role of type IV pili in cyanobacterial secretion
David A. Russo, University Jena, Germany

11:30-12:00

Break

12:00-12:20

Cyanobacteria respond to light and carbon limitation by a concerted
rearrangement of the proteome

Michael Jahn, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden

12:20-12:40

Phototaxis in a wild isolate of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus
Yiling Yang, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

12:40-13:00

Deciphering the organization, dynamics, and physiological regulation
of cyanobacterial CO2-concentrating mechanisms

Lu-Ning Liu, University of Liverpool, UK

13:00-14:15

Lunch

14:15-14:35

PatA-type response regulators control cell polarity during phototaxis
Niels Schuergers, University of Freiburg, Germany

14:35-14:55

How Synechocystis sees with photosynthesis
Conrad W. Mullineaux, Queen Mary University of London, U.K.

14:55-15:15

From cyanobacteria to mammals: role of ergothionein and the glutathione system in the
tolerance to stresses and the detoxication of metabolic byproducts

Corinne Cassier-Chauvat, Université Paris-Saclay, France

15:15-15:30

Break

SELECTED SHORT TALKS BY YOUNG RESEARCHERS

Danny Ducat, Michigan State University, USA

15:30-15:45

mRNA localisation, reaction centre biogenesis and thylakoid membrane
targeting in cyanobacteria

Moontaha Mahbub, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, UK

15:45-16:00

Comparative genomics of Anabaena/ Dolichospermum/ Aphanizomenon
reveals a correlation between phylogeny and natural product biosynthetic
capability

Rafael Vicentini Popin, University of Helsinki

16:00-16:15

Cyanobacterial contractile injection systems work in a new mode of action
Gregor Weiss, ETH Zürich, Switzerland

16:15-16:30

Cyanobacterial extracellular vesicles: a secretion mechanism to deal with
copper-induced stress?

Steeve Lima, i3S, University of Porto, Portugal

16:30-16:45

The function of small protein NsiR6 in nitrogen depletion and global examination
of small translated ORFs

Vanessa Krauspe, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany

16:45-17:00

Cyanobacterial blooms driven the nitrogen–phosphorus metabolism in Brazilian
soda lakes

Thierry Alexandre Pellegrinetti, University of São Paulo, Brazil

17:00-17:15

A reversibly inducible CRISPRi-Cas system targeting Photosystem II in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803
Virginia M. Johnson, Washington University, Missouri, USA

17:15-17:40

Break

SELECTED LECTURES

17:40-18:00

Structure-Function of the Cyanobacterial Cytochrome b6f Lipoprotein Complex
William A. Cramer, Purdue University, Indiana, USA

18:00-18:20

Light-catalyzed production of fatty acids and their derivatives from CO2 using
cyanobacteria

Wim Vermaas, Arizona State University, Arizona, USA

18:30-

POSTER SESSION

WEDNESDAY, 9TH OF SEPTEMBER 2020

SESSION IV. PHYSIOLOGY AND CELL BIOLOGY

Chairs: Annegret Wilde, University of Freiburg, Germany & Asunción Contreras, Unversity of
Alicante, Spain

INVITED LECTURE

10:00-10:30

Orchestration of Carbon and Nitrogen Metabolism in Unicellular Cyanobacteria
Karl Forchhammer, Universität Tübingen, Germany

SELECTED LECTURES

10:30-10:50

Coupling cell division to heterocyst development in Anabaena
Cheng-Cai Zhang, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

10:50-11:10

Cyanobacterial membrane transporters potentially involved in the marine
diatom-heterocystous cyanobacteria symbioses

Enrique Flores, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain

SESSION V. BIOENERGETICS

Chair: Paulo Oliveira, i3S & IBMC, Portugal

INVITED LECTURE

11:10-11:40

Structure and function of the cyanobacterial carbon concentrating complex I
Marc M. Nowaczyk, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany

11:40-12:00

Break

SELECTED LECTURES

12:00-12:20

Chlorophyll f is synthesized by a non-oxygen-evolving super-rogue photosystem II complex
Josef Komenda, Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic

12:20-12:40

Marine Cyanobacteria Tune Energy Transfer Efficiency in their Light-harvesting
Antennae by Modifying Pigment Coupling

Nir Keren, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

12:40-13:00

Disassembly of homo-oligomeric IM30 rings into intrinsically disordered monomers results
in formation of a thylakoid membrane-protecting carpet

Dirk Schneider, University Mainz, Germany

13:00-13:20

Testing the Capacity of Heterologous Metabolic Sinks to Replace Photoprotective Mechanisms in Cyanobacteria
Maria Santos-Merino, Michigan State University, USA

13:20-14:30

Lunch

SESSION VI. BIOTECHNOLOGY AND SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY

Chair: Elke Dittmann, University of Potsdam, Germany

INVITED LECTURE

14:30-15:00

Pooled CRISPRi screening of Synechocystis for improved growth, tolerance, and
productivity

Paul Hudson, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden

SELECTED LECTURES

15:00-15:20

Engineering cyanobacteria for stable production of commodity chemicals around the clock
Filipe Branco dos Santos, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

15:20-15:40

Enduracididine production by heterologous expression of two genes involved in
cyanobacteria guanitoxin biosynthesis

Marli F. Fiore, University of São Paulo, Brazil

15:40-16:00

Remodeling of photosynthetic electron transport in Synechocystis PCC 6803
for future hydrogen production from water

Matthias Rögner, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany

16:00-16:30

Break

SELECTED LECTURES

16:30-16:50

Orthogonal degron system for controlled protein degradation in cyanobacteria
Jonathan K. Sakkos, Michigan State University, USA

16:50-17:10

Metabolic engineering of cyanobacteria for heterologous production of terpenes
Pia Lindberg, Uppsala University, Sweden

17:10-17:30

Synthetic biology strategies for the optimization of artificial pathways in
cyanobacterial engineering 

Pauli Kallio, University of Turku, Finland

17:30-17:50

Probing the limits of phototrophic productivity 
Ralf Steuer, Humboldt-University of Berlin, Germany

17:50-18:10

NADPH-availability is a limiting factor for photobiocatalytic biotransformations 
Robert Kourist, Graz University of Technology, Austria

PHOTOBIOCAT INVITED LECTURE

18:10-18:30

PRIZES AND CLOSING REMARKS