Science · 2017 · 242 citations · 45 references
Life SciencesBiochemistryPlant BiologyEnzymologyPhotosynthesisPlant BiochemistryCalvin CycleCarbon FixationOxygen EvolutionPhotosynthesis BiochemistryPhotosynthetic Energy ConversionPhotosynthetic MetabolismCalvin - Benson - Bassham CycleCrop YieldsEscherichia ColiPhotosynthetic Carbon FixationPhotosynthetic EnzymesRubisco ActivityRubisco CatalysisRubisco Function
A biotech tour de force RuBisCo, the key enzyme of photosynthesis, is a complex of eight large and eight small subunits. It mediates the fixation of atmospheric CO 2 in the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle. In addition to being enzymatically inefficient, RuBisCo has a problem with distinguishing between CO 2 and O 2 . The fixation of O 2 results in the energetically wasteful reaction of photorespiration. Thus, there is a strong incentive to improve RuBisCo's catalytic properties by engineering. However, for decades, it has been impossible to express the enzyme from plants in an easily manipulatable bacterial host. Aigner et al. succeeded in functionally expressing plant RuBisCo in Escherichia coli (see the Perspective by Yeates and Wheatley). This should allow for the systematic mutational analysis of RuBisCo and selection of favorable variants for improved crop yields. Science , this issue p. 1272 ; see also p. 1253
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Mass Spectrometric Sequencing of Proteins from Silver-Stained Polyacrylamide Gels
Andrej Shevchenko, Matthias Wilm, Ole Vorm et al. · Analytical Chemistry · 1996 · 9.1K citations