Self-Assembly, Organisation, Regulation, and Engineering of Carboxysomes: CO2-Fixing Prokaryotic Organelles

Abstract

Carboxysomes are a group of bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) that encapsulate Rubisco and carbonic anhydrase to enhance CO2 fixation in cells. Through self-assembly of hundreds of proteins into a virus-like icosahedral organelle, carboxysomes provide all cyanobacteria and some chemoautotrophs with the ability to utilise limited environmental CO2 and function as a key component of CO2-concentrating mechanisms. In this chapter, we will summarise recent advances in understanding the composition, biogenesis, structural and functional regulation of carboxysomes, as well as synthetic engineering of carboxysomes.