Fig. 1: Endosymbiotic theory and our platform to recapitulate the evolution of photosynthetic eukaryotic cells.
From: Engineering artificial photosynthetic life-forms through endosymbiosis
a The endosymbiotic theory–Mitochondria, M, are proposed to have evolved from a class of α-proteobacteria while the chloroplast, C, is proposed to have originated from cyanobacteria. Golgi apparatus—G, Endoplasmic reticulum—ER, Vacuole—V. b S. cerevisiae (budding yeast) cells produce ATP by glycolysis or mediated oxidative phosphorylation. c Suicide plasmid-based strategy used in this manuscript to engineer cyanobacterial mutants, SynJEC strains. d Our platform: We use suicide plasmid-based strategy to engineer cyanobacterial endosymbionts, SynJEC strains, such that they perform chloroplast-like functions. S. cerevisiae mutants, deficient in ATP synthesis by oxidative phosphorylation under defined photosynthetic selection conditions, are used as host strains. Engineered cyanobacteria strains, SynJEC, are then introduced into the yeast cells by a cell fusion process that is developed and optimized (see Methods). The yeast/cyanobacterial chimera are selected under defined photosynthetic selection conditions where the cyanobacterial endosymbionts provide ATP to the mutant S. cerevisiae host cells, and S. cerevisiae provide essential metabolites to the S. elongatus endosymbionts.
