Engineering RuBisCO

RuBisCO is the first enzyme in the CO2 fixation pathway and is regarded as a slow catalyst large amounts of RuBisCO are required for a sustainable carboxy-lation rate, and it has an affinity for oxygen, which is used in a counterproductive competing reaction [175]. C. is an ideal host for engineering RuBisCO, 

---

In this chapter attention will be focused on the chemical transformations of C02 to yield carboxylic acids and related molecules (e.g., cyclic esters), while natural carboxylations reactions such as those dealing with RuBisCO (ribulose-1,5 bis(phosphate) carboxylase/oxidase) and its genetic engineering or the carboxylation of phenol via a phenol phosphate intermediate by the phenol-carboxylase enzyme, will be left aside. 

In plants and some other eukaryotes, pentoses are components of cell wall polysaccharides such as xylans and arabinogalactans. More interestingly, all green forms of life, i. e., those that perform photosynthesis, contain ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (often abbreviated as Rubisco) as the central enzyme involved in carbon dioxide fixation. Consequently, this enzyme has become of interest in numerous genetic engineering projects aimed at the improvement of photosynthesis in agriculturally important plants [4]. 

Spreitzer, R.J., Peddi, S.R., and Satagopan, S. (2005) Phylogenetic engineering at an interface between large and small subunits imparts land-plant kinetic properties to algal Rubisco. 

Genkov, T., Meyer, M., Griffiths, H., and Spreitzer, R.J. (2010) Functional hybrid Rubisco enzymes with plant small subunits and algal large subunits engineered rbcS cDNA for expression in Chlamydomonas. /. Biol. Chem., 285 (26), 19833-19841. 

Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (Rubisco) is the key enzyme both of photosynthesis and photorespiration in plants. The dual function of Rubisco makes it an important target enzyme for genetic engineering in attempts to improve the productivity of crop plants. 

Whitney, S.P., Houtz, R.L. Alonso, H. (2011). Advancing Our Understanding and Capacity to Engineer Nature s C02-sequesteiing Enzyme, Rubisco. Plant Physiology, Vol.155, No.l, (January 2011), pp. 27-35. 

---