ERC Advanced Grant · 2023
Can we re-construct the engine of natural CO2-fixation? Rubisco catalyzes the key reaction in photosynthesis: the capture and conversion of atmospheric CO2 into biomass. However, despite billions of years of evolution the enzyme is (still) constrained by a trade-off between CO2-fixation activity and CO2-specificity, which limits photosynthetic carbon capture, and thus directly agricultural yield. In pro2neo-RUBISCO, we will overcome this fundamental limitation of photosynthetic CO2-fixation with a completely fresh approach. We will use an evolutionary-synthetic biology strategy to study the evolutionary history of Rubisco, derive a molecular understanding for the enzyme’s mechanism, and…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.