Bioengineering Rubisco and its chaperons

Abstract: The major enzyme responsible for assimilation of inorganic carbon into organic biomass in plants, algae and bacteria is ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (Rubisco), which performance is often one of the limiting steps in photosynthesis and can greatly affect plant survival and crop yield alike. Composed of eight large and eight small subunits, plant Rubisco is one of the largest and most abundant enzymes that command a suite of assembly and catalytic chaperones. I shall present both in silico and in planta findings that show the importance of ancillary protein complementarity within the Rubisco complex for its adaptive evolution. Evolutionary aspects of Rubisco biogenesis and performance as well as their biotechnological implications for recombinant Rubisco bioengineering in plants will be discussed.

Host: Luke Mackinder