National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
32401000
China
Citation
Journal: Nat Plants / Year: 2026 Title: Structure of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii LciA guided the engineering of FNT family proteins to gain bicarbonate transport activity. Authors: Jiaxin Guo / Zhao Yang / Xue Zhang / Feifan Liu / Miaolian Ma / Fang Yu / Jirong Huang / Peng Zhang / Abstract: Engineering functional CO-concentrating mechanisms into C crops holds great potential for enhancing photosynthetic efficiency. Limited CO-inducible A (LciA), a chloroplast envelope bicarbonate ...Engineering functional CO-concentrating mechanisms into C crops holds great potential for enhancing photosynthetic efficiency. Limited CO-inducible A (LciA), a chloroplast envelope bicarbonate channel belonging to the formate/nitrite transporter (FNT) family, is a key algal CO2-concentrating mechanism component and has been considered as a prime candidate for introduction into C plants. However, its application has been hindered by an incomplete mechanistic understanding. Here we report the cryogenic electron microscopy structure of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii LciA. Combining structural analysis and growth assays, we determined key residues governing substrate access and permeation, and identified two substitutions (K136A/A114F) that enhance LciA activity. We found that bicarbonate selectivity is governed by electrostatic coordination mediated by Lys220 and steric constraint imposed by Ala117 and Val267 within the selectivity filter. Leveraging these insights, we successfully engineered the bacterial FNT family nitrite channel NirC through site-directed mutagenesis to gain bicarbonate transport activity, and we characterized the bicarbonate transport capacity of the Chlamydomonas nitrite channels NAR1.1/NAR1.5, which were amenable to further enhancement. Taken together, our study establishes LciA as a fundamental template for engineering and identifying FNT proteins with bicarbonate transport capability, thereby greatly expanding the molecular toolkit for synthetic biology approaches aimed at boosting photosynthetic efficiency in both algae and crops.
History
Deposition
May 19, 2025
Deposition site: PDBJ / Processing site: PDBC
Revision 1.0
Nov 26, 2025
Provider: repository / Type: Initial release
Revision 1.0
Nov 26, 2025
Data content type: EM metadata / Data content type: EM metadata / Provider: repository / Type: Initial release
Revision 1.0
Nov 26, 2025
Data content type: FSC / Data content type: FSC / Provider: repository / Type: Initial release
Revision 1.0
Nov 26, 2025
Data content type: Half map / Part number: 1 / Data content type: Half map / Provider: repository / Type: Initial release
Revision 1.0
Nov 26, 2025
Data content type: Half map / Part number: 2 / Data content type: Half map / Provider: repository / Type: Initial release
Revision 1.0
Nov 26, 2025
Data content type: Image / Data content type: Image / Provider: repository / Type: Initial release
Revision 1.0
Nov 26, 2025
Data content type: Primary map / Data content type: Primary map / Provider: repository / Type: Initial release
Data content type: EM metadata / Data content type: EM metadata / EM metadata / Group: Database references / Experimental summary / Data content type: EM metadata / EM metadata / EM metadata / Category: citation / citation_author / em_admin Data content type: EM metadata / EM metadata ...EM metadata / EM metadata / EM metadata / EM metadata / EM metadata / EM metadata / EM metadata / EM metadata / EM metadata Item: _citation.country / _citation.journal_abbrev ..._citation.country / _citation.journal_abbrev / _citation.journal_id_CSD / _citation.journal_id_ISSN / _citation.pdbx_database_id_DOI / _citation.pdbx_database_id_PubMed / _citation.title / _citation.year / _em_admin.last_update
A: Low-CO2 inducible protein LCIA B: Low-CO2 inducible protein LCIA C: Low-CO2 inducible protein LCIA D: Low-CO2 inducible protein LCIA E: Low-CO2 inducible protein LCIA
In the structure databanks used in Yorodumi, some data are registered as the other names, "COVID-19 virus" and "2019-nCoV". Here are the details of the virus and the list of structure data.
Jan 31, 2019. EMDB accession codes are about to change! (news from PDBe EMDB page)
EMDB accession codes are about to change! (news from PDBe EMDB page)
The allocation of 4 digits for EMDB accession codes will soon come to an end. Whilst these codes will remain in use, new EMDB accession codes will include an additional digit and will expand incrementally as the available range of codes is exhausted. The current 4-digit format prefixed with “EMD-” (i.e. EMD-XXXX) will advance to a 5-digit format (i.e. EMD-XXXXX), and so on. It is currently estimated that the 4-digit codes will be depleted around Spring 2019, at which point the 5-digit format will come into force.
The EM Navigator/Yorodumi systems omit the EMD- prefix.
Related info.:Q: What is EMD? / ID/Accession-code notation in Yorodumi/EM Navigator
Yorodumi is a browser for structure data from EMDB, PDB, SASBDB, etc.
This page is also the successor to EM Navigator detail page, and also detail information page/front-end page for Omokage search.
The word "yorodu" (or yorozu) is an old Japanese word meaning "ten thousand". "mi" (miru) is to see.
Related info.:EMDB / PDB / SASBDB / Comparison of 3 databanks / Yorodumi Search / Aug 31, 2016. New EM Navigator & Yorodumi / Yorodumi Papers / Jmol/JSmol / Function and homology information / Changes in new EM Navigator and Yorodumi