BioChem - DOS

Conversion of Escherichia coli to generate all biomass carbon from CO2

Cell

Gleizer, Shmuel; Ben-Nissan, Roee; Bar-On, Yinon M.; Antonovsky, Niv; Noor, Elad; Zohar, Yehudit; Jona, Ghil; Krieger, Eyal; Shamshoum, Melina; Bar-Even, Arren; Milo, Ron

<P><B>Summary</B></P> <P>The living world is largely divided into autotrophs that convert CO<SUB>2</SUB> into biomass and heterotrophs that consume organic compounds. In spite of widespread interest in renewable energy storage and more sustainable food production, the engineering of industrially relevant heterotrophic model organisms to use CO<SUB>2</SUB> as their sole carbon source has so far remained an outstanding challenge. Here, we report the achievement of this transformation on laboratory timescales. We constructed and evolved <I>Escherichia coli</I> to produce all its biomass carbon from CO<SUB>2</SUB>. Reducing power and energy, but not carbon, are supplied via the one-carbon molecule formate, which can be produced electrochemically. Rubisco and phosphoribulokinase were co-expressed with formate dehydrogenase to enable CO<SUB>2</SUB> fixation and reduction via the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle. Autotrophic growth was achieved following several months of continuous laboratory evolution in a chemostat under intensifying organic carbon limitation and confirmed via isotopic labeling.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> Conversion of obligate heterotroph to full autotrophy over laboratory timescales </LI> <LI> Non-native Calvin cycle operation generates biomass carbon from CO<SUB>2</SUB> in <I>E. coli</I> </LI> <LI> Formate is oxidized by heterologous formate dehydrogenase to provide reducing power </LI> <LI> Chemostat-based directed evolution led to complete trophic mode change in &asymp;200 days </LI> </UL> </P> <P><B>Graphical Abstract</B></P> <P>[DISPLAY OMISSION]</P>

2019

Elsevier

cc-by

0092-8674

1097-4172

179

6

pp.1255-1263.e12

10.1016/j.cell.2019.11.009

http://click.ndsl.kr/servlet/OpenAPIDetailView?keyValue=05787966&target=NART&cn=NART98449449

http://www.cell.com/article/S0092867419312309/pdf

synthetic autotrophy; carbon fixation; Rubisco; adaptive laboratory evolution; synthetic biology; sustainability; metabolic rewiring; Escherichia coli