Engineering artificial photosynthetic life-forms through endosymbiosis

Jay Cournoyer, Sarah D. Altman, Yang-le Gao, Catherine L. Wallace, Dianwen Zhang, Guo-Hsuen Lo, Noah T. Haskin and Angad P. Mehta ()
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Jay Cournoyer: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Sarah D. Altman: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Yang-le Gao: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Catherine L. Wallace: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Dianwen Zhang: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Guo-Hsuen Lo: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Noah T. Haskin: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Angad P. Mehta: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract The evolutionary origin of the photosynthetic eukaryotes drastically altered the evolution of complex lifeforms and impacted global ecology. The endosymbiotic theory suggests that photosynthetic eukaryotes evolved due to endosymbiosis between non-photosynthetic eukaryotic host cells and photosynthetic cyanobacterial or algal endosymbionts. The photosynthetic endosymbionts, propagating within the cytoplasm of the host cells, evolved, and eventually transformed into chloroplasts. Despite the fundamental importance of this evolutionary event, we have minimal understanding of this remarkable evolutionary transformation. Here, we design and engineer artificial, genetically tractable, photosynthetic endosymbiosis between photosynthetic cyanobacteria and budding yeasts. We engineer various mutants of model photosynthetic cyanobacteria as endosymbionts within yeast cells where, the engineered cyanobacteria perform bioenergetic functions to support the growth of yeast cells under defined photosynthetic conditions. We anticipate that these genetically tractable endosymbiotic platforms can be used for evolutionary studies, particularly related to organelle evolution, and also for synthetic biology applications.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29961-7

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