Wang Weichen, Zhao Jingjing, Yang Boyu, Li Chao, Ren Yongshuo, Li Shubin, Zhang Xiangxiang, Han Xiaojun
State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy Conversion and Storage, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, China.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2025 Mar 10;64(11):e202421827. doi: 10.1002/anie.202421827. Epub 2025 Feb 9.
Building an artificial photosynthetic cell from scratch helps to understand the working mechanisms of chloroplasts. It is a challenge to achieve carbon fixation triggered by photosynthetic organelles in an artificial cell. ATP synthase and photosystem II (PSII) are purified and reconstituted onto the phospholipid membrane to fabricate photosynthetic organelles. With the integration of phycocyanin, the ATP production yield increases by 2.51-fold due to the enhanced light harvesting capability. The carbon fixation pathway is established by converting α-oxoglutarate to acetyl-CoA and oxaloacetate with cascade enzyme reactions including the isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH), aconitase (ACO), and ATP citrate lyase (ACL). The photosynthetic organelles, phycocyanin, and carbon fixation pathway are encapsulated into giant unilamellar vesicles to obtain artificial photosynthetic cells, which convert α-oxoglutarate to acetyl-CoA and oxaloacetate inside artificial cells upon light irradiation. The acetyl-CoA is the most important intermediate product in the cellular metabolic networks for the synthesis of cholesterol and fatty acids. Our results provide a way for efficient light energy conversion to produce ATP and fix CO, and pave the path to build autonomous artificial cells with more complicated metabolic networks.
从头构建人工光合细胞有助于理解叶绿体的工作机制。在人工细胞中实现由光合细胞器触发的碳固定是一项挑战。将ATP合酶和光系统II（PSII）纯化并重构到磷脂膜上以制造光合细胞器。通过整合藻蓝蛋白，由于光捕获能力增强，ATP产量提高了2.51倍。通过包括异柠檬酸脱氢酶（IDH）、乌头酸酶（ACO）和ATP柠檬酸裂解酶（ACL）在内的级联酶反应，将α-酮戊二酸转化为乙酰辅酶A和草酰乙酸，从而建立碳固定途径。将光合细胞器、藻蓝蛋白和碳固定途径封装到巨型单层囊泡中以获得人工光合细胞，该细胞在光照下可在人工细胞内将α-酮戊二酸转化为乙酰辅酶A和草酰乙酸。乙酰辅酶A是细胞代谢网络中用于合成胆固醇和脂肪酸的最重要中间产物。我们的研究结果为高效光能转换以产生ATP和固定CO提供了一种方法，并为构建具有更复杂代谢网络的自主人工细胞铺平了道路。
