Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany.
Plant Sci. 2018 Aug;273:71-83. doi: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2017.12.007. Epub 2017 Dec 21.
Increasing agricultural productivity is one of the major challenges our society faces. While multiple strategies to enhance plant carbon fixation have been suggested, and partially implemented, most of them are restricted to relatively simple modifications of endogenous metabolism, i.e., "low hanging fruit". Here, I portray the next generation of metabolic solutions to increase carbon fixation rate and yield. These strategies involve major rewiring of central metabolism, including dividing Rubisco's catalysis between several enzymes, replacing Rubisco with a different carboxylation reaction, substituting the Calvin Cycle with alternative carbon fixation pathways, and engineering photorespiration bypass routes that do not release carbon. While the barriers for implementing these elaborated metabolic architectures are quite significant, if we truly want to revolutionize carbon fixation, only daring engineering efforts will lead the way.
提高农业生产力是我们社会面临的主要挑战之一。虽然已经提出了多种提高植物碳固定的策略，并在一定程度上得到了实施，但其中大多数策略都仅限于对内源代谢的相对简单的修饰，即“低挂果实”。在这里，我描绘了提高碳固定率和产量的下一代代谢解决方案。这些策略涉及对中心代谢的重大重新布线，包括将 Rubisco 的催化作用分配给几种酶，用不同的羧化反应替代 Rubisco，用替代的碳固定途径替代卡尔文循环，以及工程化不释放碳的光呼吸旁路途径。虽然实施这些精细代谢结构的障碍相当大，但如果我们真的要彻底改变碳固定，只有大胆的工程努力才能引领潮流。
