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Serine/Threonine Protein Kinase SpkG Is a Candidate for High Salt Resistance in the Unicellular Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 1,2. 2,3. 2 4 2 2 Chengwei Liang , Xiaowen Zhang , Xiaoyuan Chi , Xiangyu Guan , Youxun Li , Song Qin *, Hong bo Shao5 1 Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, China, 2 Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China, 3 Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Qingdao, China, 4 Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China, 5 Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, China Abstract Background: Seven serine/threonine kinase genes have been predicted in unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC6803. SpkA and SpkB were shown to be required for cell motility and SpkE has no kinase activity. There is no report whether the other four STKs are involved in stress-mediated signaling in Synechocystis PCC6803. Methodology/Principal Findings: In this paper, we examined differential expression of the other four serine/threonine kinases, SpkC, SpkD, SpkF and SpkG, at seven different stress conditions. The transcriptional level was up-regulated of spkG and down-regulated of spkC under high salt stress condition. Two spk deletion mutants, DspkC and DspkG, were constructed and their growth characteristic were examined compared to the wild strain. The wild strain and DspkC mutant were not affected under high salt stress conditions. In contrast, growth of spkG mutant was completely impaired. To further confirm the function of spkG, we also examined the effect of mutation of spkG on the e