Project description
Designing photosynthetic organisms that make the most of sunlight
Photosynthesis is a fundamental process on Earth, harnessing the energy of sunlight to generate the oxygen we breathe and the food we eat. However, plants and other photosynthetic organisms absorb only a fraction of the available solar energy, and then incur further losses when converting this energy into biomass. Enhancing the collection and storage of solar energy for photosynthesis could improve food and energy production. The EU-funded PhotoRedesign project aims to take up this challenge: by combining expertise in genetics, biochemistry and biophysics, the team will design novel versions of photosynthesis in the model cyanobacterium Synechocystis. PhotoRedesign will modify complex photosynthetic processes that were hitherto considered immutable, thereby allowing photosynthetic organisms to utilise more sunlight energy, and ultimately increasing biomass (food) and biofuel production.
Objective
Oxygenic photosynthesis uses the energy of sunlight to generate the oxygen we breathe and the food we eat, but the vast majority of the received solar energy is not converted to biomass. Enhancing photosynthesis to improve the production of food, energy and high value compounds is a compellingly important challenge that has not been taken up yet, because it requires the modification and exchange of large ensembles of interacting photosynthesis components from different organisms.
For the first time, we will undertake the comprehensive redesign of photosynthesis to enhance its capacity to harvest and safely convert solar energy. To achieve this, we combine in our team unique and complementary expertise in genetics, biochemistry and biophysics in the full range of bacterial and plant photosynthetic organisms. We will combine genetic engineering with new approaches from synthetic biology and adaptive evolution to create a novel enhanced variant of photosynthesis in the model cyanobacterium Synechocystis as chassis. The ground-breaking overall objective is to combine photosystems from different photoautotrophic organisms, including de novo-designed antennas in reimagined photosystems.
By employing a multidisciplinary approach for combining different natural and de novo-designed photosynthesis modules in one adaptable bacterial chassis with the goal to create a novel enhanced type of photosynthesis, PhotoRedesign goes far beyond conventional applied and fundamental photosynthesis research. PhotoRedesign will establish new model systems and toolkits for the next generation of photosynthesis researchers, and it develops a novel concept for modifying complex processes, hitherto considered to be immutable. In consequence, PhotoRedesign will advance photosynthesis research and create the basis for improving the productivity of economically-relevant photosynthetic organisms.
Fields of science
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Funding Scheme
ERC-SyG - Synergy grantHost institution
80539 MUNCHEN
Germany