A synthetic pathway for the fixation of carbon dioxide in vitro

Optimizing designer metabolisms in vitro Biological carbon fixation requires several enzymes to turn CO 2 into biomass. Although this pathway evolved in plants, algae, and microorganisms over billions of years, many reactions and enzymes could aid in the production of desired chemical products instead of biomass. Schwander et al. constructed an optimized synthetic carbon fixation pathway in vitro by using 17 enzymes—including three engineered enzymes—from nine different organisms across all three domains of life (see the Perspective by Gong and Li). The pathway is up to five times more efficient than the in vivo rates of the most common natural carbon fixation pathway. Further optimization of this and other metabolic pathways by using similar approaches may lead to a host of biotechnological applications. Science , this issue p. 900 ; see also p. 830