2018/08/28 by Benedict M. Long, Wei Yih Hee, Robert E. Sharwood +9 · 1 voice · 6 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Energy · #Algal biology and biofuel production #Microbial Metabolic Engineering and Bioproduction #Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41467-018-06044-0
openalex publication_date 2018/08/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Abstract A long-term strategy to enhance global crop photosynthesis and yield involves the introduction of cyanobacterial CO 2 -concentrating mechanisms (CCMs) into plant chloroplasts. Cyanobacterial CCMs enable relatively rapid CO 2 fixation by elevating intracellular inorganic carbon as bicarbonate, then concentrating it as CO 2 around the enzyme Rubisco in specialized protein micro-compartments called carboxysomes. To date, chloroplastic expression of carboxysomes has been elusive, requiring coordinated expression of almost a dozen proteins. Here we successfully produce simplified carboxysomes, isometric with those of the source organism Cyanobium , within tobacco chloroplasts. We replace the endogenous Rubisco large subunit gene with cyanobacterial Form-1A Rubisco large and small subunit genes, along with genes for two key α-carboxysome structural proteins. This minimal gene set produces carboxysomes, which encapsulate the introduced Rubisco and enable autotrophic growth at elevated CO 2 . This result demonstrates the formation of α-carboxysomes from a reduced gene set, informing the step-wise construction of fully functional α-carboxysomes in chloroplasts.