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

许多作物的产量受到二氧化碳利用率和用水量的限制。CAPP项目旨在通过将提高性能的碳浓缩机制（CCM）从绿藻转移到高等植物中来克服这些限制。这个项目将使我们对ccm功能的理解取得重大进展，尽管几乎所有的藻类都利用ccm来吸收二氧化碳，但ccm的功能仍然是一个谜。如果成功，该项目将是显著提高作物生产力的关键一步。更一般地说，这个项目代表了将一个复杂系统从一个生物体移植到另一个生物体的首次尝试之一，因此将提供许多学习一般原理的机会，这些原理将在人类越来越多地尝试设计生物学时有用。CAPP2将专注于了解类pyrenoid，这是藻类CCM的核心细胞器，并在C3植物拟南芥中重建其关键特征。利用突变体、光学和电子显微镜以及生物化学技术，将研究绿藻衣藻中类pyrenoid的结构、组装和调控。将成分引入拟南芥，并对其对生产力的影响进行建模和测量。此外，将开发Förster共振能量转移（FRET）纳米传感器，以亚细胞分辨率测量体内碳酸氢盐的浓度；该传感器将用于衣藻和拟南芥的CCM表征。

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.