Light-powered CO 2 fixation in a chloroplast mimic with natural and synthetic parts

Tarryn Miller , Thomas Beneyton (1) , Thomas Schwander , Christoph Diehl , Mathias Girault (1) , Richard Mclean , Tanguy Chotel , Peter Claus , Niña Socorro Cortina (2) , Jean-Christophe Baret (1) , Tobias Erb (2)

1 CRPP - Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal
2 Department of Biochemistry and Synthetic Metabolism

Nature integrates complex biosyntheticand energy converting tasks within compartments such as chloroplasts or mitochondria. Chloroplasts convert light into chemical energy, driving CO2fixation. We usedmicrofluidics to develop a chloroplast-mimic by encapsulating and operating photosynthetic membranes in cell-sized droplets. Thesedropletscan be energized by light to power enzymes or enzyme cascades and analyzed for their catalytic properties in multiplex and real-time. We demonstrate how the micro-droplets can be programmed and controlled by adjusting internal compositions as well as using light asanexternal trigger. We showcase the capability of our platform by integrating the CETCH cycle, a synthetic network for CO2conversion,tocreate an artificial photosynthetic system that interfaces the natural and the synthetic biological world.

Domaines: Matière Molle [cond-mat.soft]; Biomatériaux; Biotechnologies

Tarryn Miller, Thomas Beneyton, Thomas Schwander, Christoph Diehl, Mathias Girault, et al.. Light-powered CO 2 fixation in a chloroplast mimic with natural and synthetic parts. Science, 2020, 368 (6491), pp.649-654. ⟨10.1126/science.aaz6802⟩. ⟨hal-02870971⟩