Engineering Semi-Artificial Cells for New-to-Nature Photosynthesis

工程半人工细胞用于新的自然光合作用

• 批准号: BB/Y008308/1
• 负责人: Jenny Zhang
• 金额: $ 95.8万
• 依托单位: University of Cambridge
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FY008308%2F1
• 关键词: Engineering; Semi; Artificial; Cells; New

Photosynthesis is an ancient process carried out by organisms including plants, algae and cyanobacteria, whereby sunlight is captured and converted to energy vectors that are then used to synthesis chemicals. However, natural photosynthetic processes were not evolved for efficiency. The ability to engineer more efficient and enhanced photosynthetic processes would lead to more promising sustainable ways of clean (bio)energy generation.This project aims to build semi-artificial photosynthetic cells from the bottom up using a new biohybrid approach, to ultimately demonstrate how to engineer cells for enhanced or new-to-nature photosynthesis. The objectives towards this are to firstly isolate and modify the light harvesting/charge propagating component of photosynthesis (the thylakoids) to be able to convert more of the solar spectrum into usable energy/charge carriers. The second objective is to completely reprogram powerful CO2 concentrating capsules found in cyanobacteria, called carboxysomes, by replacing the naturally slow enzyme for CO2 conversion (RUBISCO) with much more efficient enzymes that can turn protons and CO2 into useful feedstocks including hydrogen gas and formate. The last objective is to encapsulate the two new biohybrid components into artificial cells so that the new 'light reaction' can be in close enough proximity to drive the new 'dark reactions'. This strategy will allow us to understand how to best tune the ratios of 'light' to 'dark' components within photosynthesis, as well as any intermediate energy carriers, to best balance the input and output fluxes and give rise to the most efficient light-to-chemical conversion systems. This is a highly original approach for engineering photosynthetic cells that will likely yield new photosynthetic efficiencies or chemistries not possible using classical synthetic biology approaches. This work will provide valuable lessons into how photosynthetic cells can be bioengineered for bespoke performances in the future, which will benefit severl research areas beyond clean energy, including agriculture and bio-manufacturing.

光合作用是由包括植物，藻类和蓝细菌在内的生物进行的古老过程，从而捕获阳光并转化为能量载体，然后将其用于合成化学物质。但是，自然光合作用过程并未提高效率。设计更有效和增强的光合作用过程的能力将导致更有希望的可持续清洁方法（BIO）能量产生。该项目旨在使用新的生物杂交方法从自下而上构建半人工光合细胞，以最终为增强或新的至新的到新的光合作用设计如何设计如何为细胞设计。实现这一目标的目标是首先将光合作用的光收集/电荷分离/电荷传播成分（类囊体），以便能够将更多的太阳光谱转换为可用的能量/电荷载体。第二个目标是通过在蓝细菌中完全重新编程强大的二氧化碳浓缩胶囊，称为羧化体，通过用更有效的酶代替自然缓慢的酶以进行二氧化碳转化率（RUBISCO），这些酶可以将质子和二氧化碳转化为包括氢气和构造在内的有用的原料。最后一个目标是将两个新的生物杂化成分封装到人造细胞中，以便新的“光反应”可以靠近足够的近端，以驱动新的“暗反应”。该策略将使我们能够理解如何最佳调整光合作用中的“光”与“黑暗”组件的比率，以及任何中间能量载体，以最好地平衡输入和输出通量，并带来最有效的光到化学转换系统。这是一种用于工程光合细胞的高度原始方法，它可能会使用经典的合成生物学方法产生新的光合作用效率或化学作用。这项工作将为未来的定制表演进行生物工程的光合细胞提供宝贵的教训，这将使包括农业和生物制造在内的清洁能源以外的SEVEL研究领域受益。