In vivo directed evolution of an ultrafast Rubisco from a semianaerobic environment imparts oxygen resistance.
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Abstract | Carbon dioxide (CO) assimilation by the enzyme Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate Carboxylase/Oxygenase (Rubisco) underpins biomass accumulation in photosynthetic bacteria and eukaryotes. Despite its pivotal role, Rubisco has a slow carboxylation rate ([Formula: see text]) and is competitively inhibited by oxygen (O). These traits impose limitations on photosynthetic efficiency, making Rubisco a compelling target for improvement. Interest in Form II Rubisco from bacteria, which comprise a dimer or hexamer of large subunits, arises from their nearly fivefold higher [Formula: see text] than the average Rubisco enzyme. As well as having a fast [Formula: see text] (25.8 s at 25 °C), we show that Rubisco (GWS1B) is extremely sensitive to O inhibition, consistent with its evolution under semianaerobic environments. We therefore used an in vivo mutagenesis-mediated screening pipeline to evolve GWS1B over six rounds under oxygenic selection, identifying three catalytic point mutants with improved ambient carboxylation efficiency: Thr-29-Ala (T29A), Glu-40-Lys (E40K), and Arg-337-Cys (R337C). Full kinetic characterization showed that each substitution enhanced the CO affinity of GWS1B under oxygenic conditions by subduing oxygen affinity, leading to 25% (E40K), 11% (T29A), and 8% (R337C) enhancements in carboxylation efficiency under ambient O at 25 °C. By contrast, under the near anaerobic natural environment of , the carboxylation efficiency of each mutant was impaired ~16%. These findings demonstrate the efficacy of artificial directed evolution to access distinctive regions of catalytic space in Rubisco. |
Year of Publication | 2025
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Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
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Volume | 122
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Issue | 27
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Pages | e2505083122
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Date Published | 07/2025
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ISSN | 1091-6490
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DOI | 10.1073/pnas.2505083122
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PubMed ID | 40587785
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