Intrinsically disordered CsoS2 acts as a general molecular thread for α-carboxysome shell assembly

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41211-y

Authors: Tao Ni (University of Oxford; The University of Hong Kong) , Qiuyao Jiang (University of Liverpool) , Pei Cing Ng (University of Liverpool) , Juan Shen (Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford) , Hao Dou (Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford) , Yanan Zhu (Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford) , Julika Radecke (Diamond Light Source) , Gregory F. Dykes (University of Liverpool) , Fang Huang (University of Liverpool) , Lu-Ning Liu (University of Liverpool; Ocean University of China) , Peijun Zhang (Diamond Light Source; Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford; Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Oxford Institute, University of Oxford)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Nature Communications , VOL 14

State: Published (Approved)
Published: September 2023
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 29812 , 28713

Abstract: Carboxysomes are a paradigm of self-assembling proteinaceous organelles found in nature, offering compartmentalisation of enzymes and pathways to enhance carbon fixation. In α-carboxysomes, the disordered linker protein CsoS2 plays an essential role in carboxysome assembly and Rubisco encapsulation. Its mechanism of action, however, is not fully understood. Here we synthetically engineer α-carboxysome shells using minimal shell components and determine cryoEM structures of these to decipher the principle of shell assembly and encapsulation. The structures reveal that the intrinsically disordered CsoS2 C-terminus is well-structured and acts as a universal “molecular thread” stitching through multiple shell protein interfaces. We further uncover in CsoS2 a highly conserved repetitive key interaction motif, [IV]TG, which is critical to the shell assembly and architecture. Our study provides a general mechanism for the CsoS2-governed carboxysome shell assembly and cargo encapsulation and further advances synthetic engineering of carboxysomes for diverse biotechnological applications.

Diamond Keywords: Enzymes

Subject Areas: Biology and Bio-materials, Chemistry

Diamond Offline Facilities: Electron Bio-Imaging Centre (eBIC)
Instruments: Krios I-Titan Krios I at Diamond , Krios II-Titan Krios II at Diamond , Krios III-Titan Krios III at Diamond , Krios IV-Titan Krios IV at Diamond

Added On: 11/09/2023 11:02

Documents:
s41467-023-41211-y.pdf

Discipline Tags:

Biotechnology Biochemistry Chemistry Structural biology Engineering & Technology Life Sciences & Biotech

Technical Tags:

Microscopy Electron Microscopy (EM) Cryo Electron Microscopy (Cryo EM)