Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Scientists use evolution to bioengineer new pathways to sustainable energy, pharmaceuticals

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Using evolution as a guiding principle, researchers have successfully engineered bacteria-yeast hybrids to perform photosynthetic carbon assimilation, generate cellular energy and support yeast growth without traditional carbon feedstocks like glucose or glycerol. By engineering photosynthetic cyanobacteria to live symbiotically inside yeast cells, the bacteria-yeast hybrids can produce important hydrocarbons, paving new biotechnical pathways to non-petroleum-based energy, other synthetic biology applications and the experimental study of evolution.

“All cells that have a nucleus also house a variety of organelles — such as mitochondria and chloroplasts — which perform specific functions and contain their own DNA,” said University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign chemistry professor Angad Mehta, who led the all-Illinois research team. “Researchers had long theorized that complex life forms got their start when one of these types of cells fused with another in a process called endosymbiosis.” 

In a previous study, Mehta’s team showed that lab-generated cyanobacteria-yeast chimeras, or endosymbionts, can supply photosynthetically generated ATP to the yeast but don’t provide sugars. In the new study, the team engineered cyanobacteria to break down sugars and secrete glucose, then combined them with yeast cells to create chimeras that can grow in the presence of CO2, using the sugar and energy produced by the bacteria.

The study findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.

Armed with the ability to engineer a non-photosynthetic organism into a photosynthetic, chimeric life form, the team focused their research on determining how these chimeras could be used to bioengineer new metabolic pathways capable of producing valuable products like limonene, a simple hydrocarbon compound found in citrus fruits, under photosynthetic conditions.

“Limonene is a relatively simple but important molecule with a large market,” said Mehta, who is also affiliated with the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. “This proof-of-concept study shows us that we can engineer pathways in our hybrids to photosynthetically produce limonene, which belongs to a class of molecules called terpenoids, which are also precursors to many high-value compounds such as fuels, anticancer and antimalarial drugs.”

Mehta said that their goals for this line of research are to determine if their method can produce more complex compounds, like fuels and pharmaceuticals, and if so, work on scaling up the process to be marketable. 

“I think it would be incredible to get to the point where we could assure that every bit of carbon in a high-value compound comes from CO2,” Mehta said. “This could be one way to recycle CO2 waste in the future”. 

The team also said that in their quest to understand and perfect endosymbiotic systems to advance biotechnology, they will also answer many fundamental evolutionary questions along the way. “This will happen whether we intend it or not,” Mehta said. “We are always keeping an eye on how our work can answer some of the mysteries behind how life evolved. In my view, the best way to engineer endosymbiotic systems will be by recreating the evolution process in the lab. Finding answers to some of biology’s biggest questions will come naturally.”

Illinois researchers Yang-le Gao, Jason Cournoyer, Bidhan De, Catherine Wallace, Alexander Ulanov and Michael La Frano also participated in this study. The National Institutes of Health supported this research. 

 

Editor’s note:   

To reach Angad Mehta, email apm8@illinois.edu

The paper “Introducing carbon assimilation in yeasts using photosynthetic directed endosymbiosis“ is available online. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49585-3

Read Next

Life sciences Photo of Michael Ward standing in tall grass on a riverbank.

How are migrating wild birds affected by H5N1 infection in the U.S.?

Each spring, roughly 3.5 billion wild birds migrate from their warm winter havens to their breeding grounds across North America, eating insects, distributing plant seeds and providing a variety of other ecosystem services to stopping sites along the way. Some also carry diseases like avian influenza, a worry for agricultural, environmental and public health authorities. […]

Announcements Marcelo Garcia, professor of civil and environmental engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering.

Illinois faculty member elected to National Academy of Engineering

Champaign, Ill. — Marcelo Garcia, a professor of civil and environmental engineering in The Grainger College of Engineering, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Social sciences Male and female student embracing on the quad with flowering redbud tree and the ACES library in the background. Photo by Michelle Hassel

Dating is not broken, but the trajectories of relationships have changed

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — According to some popular culture writers and online posts by discouraged singles lamenting their inability to find romantic partners, dating is “broken,” fractured by the social isolation created by technology, pandemic lockdowns and potential partners’ unrealistic expectations. Yet two studies of college students conducted a decade apart found that their ideas about […]

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

507 E. Green St
MC-426
Champaign, IL 61820

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010