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Structure of intact α-carboxysome specifies role of CsoS2 in shell assembly

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The carbon fixation machinery α-carboxysome of the marine cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus is composed of an icosahedral-like proteinaceous shell that encapsulates the enzymes RuBisCO and carbonic anhydrase. Our cryo-EM structure reveals how thousands of protein components self-assemble into the α-carboxysome and characterizes the multivalent interactions by which the scaffolding protein CsoS2 crosslinks the shell with internal RuBisCO molecules.

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Fig. 1: Overall architecture of Prochlorococcus α-carboxysome and pattern of interactions between the shell and the scaffolding protein CsoS2.

References

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This is a summary of: Zhou, R. Q. et al. Structure and assembly of the α-carboxysome in the marine cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus. Nat. Plants https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-024-01660-9 (2024).

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Structure of intact α-carboxysome specifies role of CsoS2 in shell assembly. Nat. Plants 10, 535–536 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-024-01667-2

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