Cargando…

Life cycle of a cyanobacterial carboxysome

Carboxysomes, prototypical bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) found in cyanobacteria, are large (~1 GDa) and essential protein complexes that enhance CO(2) fixation. While carboxysome biogenesis has been elucidated, the activity dynamics, lifetime, and degradation of these structures have not been i...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hill, Nicholas C., Tay, Jian Wei, Altus, Sabina, Bortz, David M., Cameron, Jeffrey C.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Association for the Advancement of Science 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7202890/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32494723
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aba1269
Descripción
Sumario:Carboxysomes, prototypical bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) found in cyanobacteria, are large (~1 GDa) and essential protein complexes that enhance CO(2) fixation. While carboxysome biogenesis has been elucidated, the activity dynamics, lifetime, and degradation of these structures have not been investigated, owing to the inability of tracking individual BMCs over time in vivo. We have developed a fluorescence-imaging platform to simultaneously measure carboxysome number, position, and activity over time in a growing cyanobacterial population, allowing individual carboxysomes to be clustered on the basis of activity and spatial dynamics. We have demonstrated both BMC degradation, characterized by abrupt activity loss followed by polar recruitment of the deactivated complex, and a subclass of ultraproductive carboxysomes. Together, our results reveal the BMC life cycle after biogenesis and describe the first method for measuring activity of single BMCs in vivo.