Martin Jonikas, PhD
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute;
Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University
Lecture Title
Structure, biogenesis, and engineering of the pyrenoid, the eukaryotic CO2-concentrating organelle
Abstract
Approximately one-third of global CO2 fixation occurs in an overlooked algal organelle called the pyrenoid. The pyrenoid enhances CO2 fixation by supplying the CO2-fixing enzyme Rubisco with a high concentration of its substrate. The molecular structure and biogenesis of this ecologically fundamental organelle have remained enigmatic. My laboratory and our collaborators aim to understand the molecular basis for pyrenoid biogenesis and leverage it to engineer a pyrenoid into land plants to enhance crop CO2 uptake and yields. In this talk, I will share our progress over the past 14 years, including the discovery that the pyrenoid is a phase-separated, liquid-like organelle; the use of genetics and systematic protein localization to identify novel components of the pyrenoid; the discovery of a key linker protein that holds Rubisco together to form the pyrenoid matrix; the discovery that many pyrenoid-localized proteins share a common sequence motif that mediates targeting to the pyrenoid; and the discovery of pyrenoid membrane tubule biogenesis factors. I will also share recent progress on leveraging this knowledge to engineer a synthetic pyrenoid into plants.
(image courtesy of Dr. Ursula Goodenough)