Towards an Assembly Pathway for the Carboxysome, the Prototype Bacterial Organelle.

碳氧体是蓝藻和化能自养细菌中的一个微区室，在这些生物体的碳浓缩机制中起着重要的作用。然而，组装的羧基体的途径还没有得到很好的理解，为了简化这个问题，那不勒斯嗜盐硫杆菌羧基体的组装将在大肠杆菌中进行研究。拟议的研究将扩展我们对羧基体组装，结构和功能的理解，并深入了解蓝藻和化能自养细菌如何调节二氧化碳的固定。更广泛的影响：细菌对二氧化碳的吸收对于我们理解全球碳循环和气候变化的影响非常重要，而碳体的知识与我们设计生物体生产生物燃料的能力有关。将为研究生和本科生提供培训机会，包括那些来自科学领域代表性不足的群体的学生。对代表性不足的少数民族高中和中学教师和学生的外联将为他们提供参与这一研究项目的机会。

The carboxysome is a microcompartment that, in cyanobacteria and chemoautotrophic bacteria, plays an important role as a component of the Carbon Concentrating Mechanisms of these organisms. However, the pathway for assembly of the carboxysome is not well understood, and in order to simplify this problem the assembly of the Halothiobacillus neapolitanus carboxysome will be studied in Escherichia coli. The proposed study will extend our understanding of carboxysome assembly, structure and function, and provide insight into how cyanobacteria and chemoautotrophic bacteria regulate the fixation of carbon dioxide. Broader Impacts: The uptake of carbon dioxide by bacteria is important for our understanding of the global carbon cycle and the impacts of climate change, and knowledge of the carboxysome is relevant to our ability to engineer organisms to produce biofuels. Training opportunities will be provided for graduate and undergraduate students, including those from groups underrepresented in science. Outreach to underrepresented minority high school and middle school teachers and students will provide opportunities for them to engage with this research project.