Combining Algal and Plant Photosynthesis (CAPP2): Application to Extend the NSF/BBSRC PSIL Collaboration

许多作物的生产力受到二氧化碳可获得性和水分利用的限制。CAPP项目旨在通过将性能增强的碳浓缩机制(CCM)从绿藻转移到高等植物来克服这些限制。该项目将在我们对CCM功能的理解方面取得重大进展，尽管几乎所有的藻类都使用CCM来吸收二氧化碳，但CCM的功能仍然是个谜。如果成功，该项目将是大幅提高作物生产率的关键一步。更广泛地说，这个项目是将复杂的系统从一个生物体移植到另一个生物体的第一次尝试，因此将提供许多机会来学习一般原理，这些原理将随着人类越来越多地尝试对生物学进行工程而变得有用。CAPP2将专注于理解类果核，这是藻类CCM的核心细胞器，并在C3植物拟南芥中重新创造其关键特征。在绿藻衣藻中，将利用突变、光学和电子显微镜以及生物化学来研究类蛋白核的结构、组装和调节。将在拟南芥中引入组件，并对其对生产率的影响进行建模和测量。此外，将开发一种Förster共振能量转移(FRET)纳米传感器来测量体内亚细胞分辨率的碳酸氢盐浓度；该传感器将用于表征衣藻和拟南芥中的CCM。

Productivity in many crops is limited by CO2 availability and water use. The CAPP project aims to overcome those limitations by transferring a performance-enhancing Carbon Concentrating Mechanism (CCM) from green algae to higher plants. This project will yield significant advances in our understanding in the function of CCMs, which remain mysterious even though nearly all algae use them to assimilate CO2. If successful, the project will be a key step towards significant increases in crop productivity. More generally, this project represents one of the first attempts at transplanting a complex system from one organism to another, and thus will present many opportunities for learning general principles that will be useful as mankind increasingly attempts to engineer biology.CAPP2 will focus on understanding the pyrenoid, an organelle at the core of the algal CCM, and re-creating its key features in the C3 plant Arabidopsis. Structure, assembly and regulation of the pyrenoid will be studied in the green alga Chlamydomonas, using mutants, light and electron microscopy, and biochemistry. Components will be introduced into Arabidopsis, and the impact on productivity will be modeled and measured. Additionally, a Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) nanosensor will be developed to measure concentrations of bicarbonate with sub-cellular resolution in vivo; the sensor will be applied to characterize the CCM in both Chlamydomonas and Arabidopsis.