Yeates Todd O, Kerfeld Cheryl A, Heinhorst Sabine, Cannon Gordon C, Shively Jessup M
UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, USA.
Nat Rev Microbiol. 2008 Sep;6(9):681-91. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro1913.
Many bacteria contain intracellular microcompartments with outer shells that are composed of thousands of protein subunits and interiors that are filled with functionally related enzymes. These microcompartments serve as organelles by sequestering specific metabolic pathways in bacterial cells. The carboxysome, a prototypical bacterial microcompartment that is found in cyanobacteria and some chemoautotrophs, encapsulates ribulose-l,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO) and carbonic anhydrase, and thereby enhances carbon fixation by elevating the levels of CO2 in the vicinity of RuBisCO. Evolutionarily related, but functionally distinct, microcompartments are present in diverse bacteria. Although bacterial microcompartments were first observed more than 40 years ago, a detailed understanding of how they function is only now beginning to emerge.
许多细菌含有细胞内微区室，其外壳由数千个蛋白质亚基组成，内部充满功能相关的酶。这些微区室通过隔离细菌细胞中的特定代谢途径来充当细胞器。羧酶体是在蓝细菌和一些化能自养生物中发现的典型细菌微区室，它包裹着1,5-二磷酸核酮糖羧化酶/加氧酶（RuBisCO）和碳酸酐酶，从而通过提高RuBisCO附近的二氧化碳水平来增强碳固定。进化相关但功能不同的微区室存在于多种细菌中。尽管细菌微区室早在40多年前就被首次观察到，但直到现在才开始对它们的功能有详细的了解。
