Engineering Rubisco to enhance CO2 utilization

作者：Lei Zhao, Zhen Cai, Yin Li, Yanping Zhang · 发表于：Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.1016/j.synbio.2023.12.006 · 被引用次数：47 · 研究领域：Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms、Microbial Metabolic Engineering and Bioproduction、Mitochondrial Function and Pathology

Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) is a pivotal enzyme that mediates the fixation of CO2. As the most abundant protein on earth, Rubisco has a significant impact on global carbon, water, and nitrogen cycles. However, the significantly low carboxylation activity and competing oxygenase activity of Rubisco greatly impede high carbon fixation efficiency. This review first summarizes the current efforts in directly or indirectly modifying plant Rubisco, which has been challenging due to its high conservation and limitations in chloroplast transformation techniques. However, recent advancements in understanding Rubisco biogenesis with the assistance of chaperones have enabled successful heterologous expression of all Rubisco forms, including plant Rubisco, in microorganisms. This breakthrough facilitates the acquisition and evaluation of modified proteins, streamlining the measurement of their activity. Moreover, the establishment of a screening system in E. coli opens up possibilities for obtaining high-performance mutant enzymes through directed evolution. Finally, this review emphasizes the utilization of Rubisco in microorganisms, not only expanding their carbon-fixing capabilities but also holding significant potential for enhancing biotransformation processes.