CAREER: ATP-driven Spatial Regulation of a Biomolecular Condensate in Bacteria

今天的大气二氧化碳水平比过去80万年来的任何时候都要高，因此，了解碳固定机制变得非常重要。全球近一半的碳修复是由细菌完成的，这些细菌将固定二氧化碳所需的机器包装成完全由称为羧基体的蛋白质组成的细胞器。尽管它们在全球碳循环中很重要，但一个羧基体在细胞中是如何组织的还不清楚。这项研究将阐明羧基体组织的机制，以了解这个重要的细胞器是如何在细胞群中维持的。了解carboxysomes组织的基本生物学机制将提供一种手段，利用它们的合成生物学应用。该项目将进一步推动NSF的使命，即通过改善天然碳固定来扩大科学和工程研究潜力，并对教育产生广泛影响，参与公众，并通过让公众了解细菌功能如何具有全球影响来提高科学素养。细胞器传统上被认为是与脂质结合并限于真核细胞。现在认识到无膜细胞器存在于所有细胞类型中。最近确定的形成无膜细胞器的方法是通过液-液相分离，其中蛋白质浓缩成液滴。关于无膜细胞器在细胞中是如何组织的，我们知之甚少。最近的几项研究表明，羧基体具有类似液体的性质-这是我们对这些碳固定细胞器的理解的一个范式转变。在蓝细菌细长聚球藻中，羧基体沿着细胞长度均匀分布。该项目组最近确定了负责维持羧基体分布的系统，但其机制仍然未知。这项研究将有助于第一次从机理上理解细菌中液体样细胞器的空间组织方式。该项目由分子和细胞生物科学部的细胞动力学和功能以及分子生物物理学集群共同资助，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的评估来支持。影响审查标准。

Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are higher today than at any point in the past 800,000 years, therefore, understanding carbon fixation mechanisms has become very important. Almost half of global carbon remediation is performed by bacteria that package the machinery required to fix carbon dioxide into organelles made entirely of protein called carboxysomes. Despite their importance to the global carbon cycle, how a carboxysome is organized in the cell is unclear. This research will elucidate the mechanisms of carboxysome organization to understand how this vital organelle is maintained in a cell population. An understanding of the basic biological mechanisms by which carboxysomes are organized will provide a means to utilize them for synthetic biology applications. This project will further NSF’s mission of expanding science and engineering research potential by improving natural carbon fixation and has broad impacts on education, engaging the public, and increasing scientific literacy by giving the public an appreciation for how bacterial function can have global implications.Organelles are traditionally thought of as lipid bound and restricted to eukaryotic cells. It is now appreciated that membraneless organelles are present in all cell types. A recently identified way to form a membraneless organelle is by Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation, where proteins condense into droplets. Little is known about how membraneless organelles are organized in a cell. Several recent studies suggest the carboxysome has liquid-like properties - a paradigm shift in our understanding of these carbon-fixing organelles. In the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus, carboxysomes are evenly spaced along the cell length. The project team recently identified the system responsible for the maintenance of carboxysome distribution, but the mechanism remains unknown. This research will contribute the first mechanistic understanding of how liquid-like organelles are spatially organized in bacteria.This project is jointly funded by the Cellular Dynamics and Function and Molecular Biophysics Clusters, Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, Directorate for Biological Sciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.