Solar-powered multi-organism symbiont mimic system for beyond natural synthesis of polypeptides from CO2 and N2

Yiming Huang1, Fengting Wang1,2* Developing artificial symbionts beyond natural synthesis limitations would bring revolutionary contributions to agriculture, medicine, environment, etc. Here, we initiated a solar-driven multi-organism symbiont, which was assembled by the CO2 fixation module of Synechocystis sp., N2 fixation module of Rhodopseudomonas palustris, biofunctional polypeptides synthesis module of Bacillus licheniformis, and the electron transfer module of con-ductive cationic poly(fluorene-co-phenylene) derivative. The modular design broke the pathway to synthesize gamma-polyglutamic acid (gamma-PGA) using CO2 and N2, attributing to the artificially constructed direct interspecific sub-stance and electron transfer. So, the intracellular ATP and NADPH were enhanced by 69 and 30%, respectively, and the produced gamma-PGA was enhanced by 104%. The strategy was further extended to produce a commercial antibiotic of bacitracin A. These achievements improve the selectivity and yield of functional polypeptides with one click by CO2 and N2, and also provide an innovative strategy for creating photosynthetic systems on demand.

Automated summary

Developing artificial symbionts with modular design can enhance the production of functional polypeptides using CO2 and N2 as substrates. The strategy improves intracellular ATP and NADPH levels and increases the production of gamma-PGA. This approach also provides an innovative method for creating photosynthetic systems on demand.