Project description
A boost for CO2 fixation efficiency
Biological CO2 fixation is crucial for biomass and food production, yet the dominant Calvin cycle pathway to achieving this is inefficient, incurring high energy costs and slow enzyme kinetics. With this in mind, the ERC-funded FASTFIX project seeks to enhance this process by exploring more efficient synthetic CO2 fixation pathways. A key challenge lies in the limited kinetic data available for relevant enzymes, which may not reflect their performance in living cells. To address this, FASTFIX will develop a novel method to quantify enzyme kinetics directly within engineered Escherichia coli. By linking growth rates to enzyme levels, the project aims to systematically analyse and select optimal synthetic pathways, paving the way for energy-efficient CO2 fixation and improved agricultural yields.
Objective
Biological CO2 fixation is the primary process responsible for biomass and food production and a key player in the atmospheric CO2 balance. Almost all biological CO2 fixation is caried out by a single pathway: the Calvin cycle. Despite the dominance of this pathway in nature it seems relatively inefficient due to high energy costs and poor enzyme kinetics. An exciting option to improve this efficiency, is the exploration of potentially more efficient synthetic CO2 pathways. However, a key challenge to identify promising synthetic CO2 fixation pathways is the limited availability of kinetic data on relevant enzymes. In addition, kinetic data are usually measured in vitro and hence not always representative for the performance in living cells.
In FASTFIX, I will develop and use a novel method to quantify kinetics of enzymes within living cells. I will do this by making the growth rate of engineered Escherichia coli cells directly dependent on the kinetics and levels of the enzymes of interest. By measuring the growth rates and enzyme levels by absolute quantitative proteomics, the in vivo kinetics of the enzymes can be determined.
This approach will be used to generate a complete overview of the kinetics of enzymes involved in promising synthetic CO2 fixation pathways. This will enable an unprecedented systematic analysis of the kinetics of synthetic CO2 fixation pathways.
Based on this analysis I will select the most promising pathway design. Enabled by the in vivo kinetics data I will then employ a novel forward-engineering method to effectively engineer and demonstrate the performance of the full pathway in E. coli.
The realization of a fast, energy-efficient synthetic CO2 fixation pathway in living cells will be a major milestone. The anticipated results will be promising for efficient CO2-based biotechnological production, and in the longer-term may increase agricultural yields and help to more efficiently mitigate humanitys CO2 footprint.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins proteomics
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins enzymes
- agricultural sciences agricultural biotechnology biomass
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
6708 PB Wageningen
Netherlands
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.