TY - JOUR TI - Functional reconstitution of a bacterial CO2 concentrating mechanism in Escherichia coli AU - Flamholz, Avi I AU - Dugan, Eli AU - Blikstad, Cecilia AU - Gleizer, Shmuel AU - Ben-Nissan, Roee AU - Amram, Shira AU - Antonovsky, Niv AU - Ravishankar, Sumedha AU - Noor, Elad AU - Bar-Even, Arren AU - Milo, Ron AU - Savage, David F A2 - Hayer-Hartl, Manajit A2 - Hardtke, Christian S A2 - Jonikas, Martin Casimir VL - 9 PY - 2020 DA - 2020/10/21 SP - e59882 C1 - eLife 2020;9:e59882 DO - 10.7554/eLife.59882 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.59882 AB - Many photosynthetic organisms employ a CO2 concentrating mechanism (CCM) to increase the rate of CO2 fixation via the Calvin cycle. CCMs catalyze ≈50% of global photosynthesis, yet it remains unclear which genes and proteins are required to produce this complex adaptation. We describe the construction of a functional CCM in a non-native host, achieved by expressing genes from an autotrophic bacterium in an Escherichia coli strain engineered to depend on rubisco carboxylation for growth. Expression of 20 CCM genes enabled E. coli to grow by fixing CO2 from ambient air into biomass, with growth in ambient air depending on the components of the CCM. Bacterial CCMs are therefore genetically compact and readily transplanted, rationalizing their presence in diverse bacteria. Reconstitution enabled genetic experiments refining our understanding of the CCM, thereby laying the groundwork for deeper study and engineering of the cell biology supporting CO2 assimilation in diverse organisms. KW - co2 fixation KW - co2 concentrating mechanism KW - photosynthesis KW - carboxysome KW - synthetic biology JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -