Impairing photorespiration increases photosynthetic conversion of CO2 to isoprene in engineered cyanobacteria

Photorespiration consumes fixed carbon and energy generated from photosynthesis to recycle glycolate and dissipate excess energy. The aim of this study was to investigate whether we can use the energy that is otherwise consumed by photorespiration to improve the production of chemicals which requires energy input. To this end, we designed and introduced an isoprene synthetic pathway, which requires ATP and NADPH input, into the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. 6803. We then deleted the glcD1 and glcD2 genes which encode glycolate dehydrogenase to impair photorespiration in isoprene-producing strain of Synechocystis. Production of isoprene in glcD1/glcD2 disrupted strain doubled, and stoichiometric analysis indicated that the energy saved from the impaired photorespiration was redirected to increase production of isoprene. Thus, we demonstrate we can use the energy consumed by photorespiration of cyanobacteria to increase the energy-dependent production of chemicals from CO2.

The ancestors of diatoms evolved a unique mitochondrial dehydrogenase to oxidize photorespiratory glycolate

Like other oxygenic photosynthetic organisms, diatoms produce glycolate, a toxic intermediate, as a consequence of the oxygenase activity of Rubisco. Diatoms can remove glycolate through excretion and through oxidation as part of the photorespiratory pathway. The diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum encodes two proteins suggested to be involved in glycolate metabolism: PtGO1 and PtGO2. We found that these proteins differ substantially from the sequences of experimentally characterized proteins responsible for glycolate oxidation in other species, glycolate oxidase (GOX) and glycolate dehydrogenase. We show that PtGO1 and PtGO2 are the only sequences of P. tricornutum homologous to GOX. Our phylogenetic analyses indicate that the ancestors of diatoms acquired PtGO1 during the proposed first secondary endosymbiosis with a chlorophyte alga, which may have previously obtained this gene from proteobacteria. In contrast, PtGO2 is orthologous to an uncharacterized protein in Galdieria sulphuraria, consistent with its acquisition during the secondary endosymbiosis with a red alga that gave rise to the current plastid. The analysis of amino acid residues at conserved positions suggests that PtGO2, which localizes to peroxisomes, may use substrates other than glycolate, explaining the lack of GOX activity we observe in vitro. Instead, PtGO1, while only very distantly related to previously characterized GOX proteins, evolved glycolate-oxidizing activity, as demonstrated by in gel activity assays and mass spectrometry analysis. PtGO1 localizes to mitochondria, consistent with previous suggestions that photorespiration in diatoms proceeds in these organelles. We conclude that the ancestors of diatoms evolved a unique alternative to oxidize photorespiratory glycolate: a mitochondrial dehydrogenase homologous to GOX able to use electron acceptors other than O₂.

Enzymatic characterization of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii glycolate dehydrogenase and its nearest proteobacterial homologue

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii contains a unique glycolate dehydrogenase (CrGlcDH) for glycolate oxidation in photorespiration that is different in structure from the GlcDH enzymes of heteroptrophic prokaryotes and the glycolate oxidases of higher plants. Here, we purified the recombinantly overexpressed enzyme and characterized its enzymatic properties. CrGlcDH uses D-lactate, but not l-lactate, as an alternative substrate with similar catalytic efficiency compared to glycolate. Other short-chain organic acids are only very slowly oxidized. Only the artificial electron acceptors DCIP and PMS, but neither flavine mono- or dinucleotides nor nicotinamide dinucleotides or cytochrome c, were used as electron acceptors by the recombinant enzyme. The enzyme is sensitive to CuSO4 suggesting function of reactive sulfhydryl groups in catalysis. Accordingly, mutational analysis of a putative Fe-S cluster indicated an important function of this domain in catalysis. Evolutionary sequence analysis confirmed that CrGlcDH belongs to a so far biochemically uncharacterized group of enzymes that is found in chlorophytes and some proteobacteria. The most related proteobacterial homologue was only active with d-lactate, but not glycolate as a substrate. Our results indicate that in the chlorophytes an existing enzyme changed its substrate specificity to support photorespiratory glycolate oxidation.