Protein Engineering to Increase the Thermal Tolerance of Rubisco activase in Miscanthus giganteus and Glycine max
Session Number
Project ID: BIO 30
Advisor(s)
Dr. Angela Ahrendt; Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Discipline
Biology
Start Date
22-4-2020 8:30 AM
End Date
22-4-2020 8:45 AM
Abstract
Greenhouse gasses trap heat, and carbon dioxide levels are higher than they have been in the past 650,000 years. Global temperatures are up two degrees celsius from those during the industrial revolution, and temperatures are predicted to rise by at least six degrees celsius by 2100. With temperatures rising, there will be serious effects on agriculture. RuBisCO is one of the most abundant enzymes on Earth, and is involved in carbon fixation in all plants. RuBisCO activase is necessary for the effective function of RuBisCO, but is also a temperature sensitive protein that becomes inactive easily when temperatures increase. Our experiment aims to engineer the protein RuBisCO activase to have a higher thermal tolerance to mitigate the negative effects of increasing global temperatures on food supply. We chose Glycine max (soybean) as one target for protein engineering because of its importance in global agriculture. We chose Miscanthus giganteus as the other target because of its potential for use in biofuel production. We hope to create more stable versions of the RuBisCO activase enzymes from these plants using site-directed mutagenesis to introduce changes in the protein sequence followed by protein thermal shift assays to measure improvements in thermal tolerance.
Protein Engineering to Increase the Thermal Tolerance of Rubisco activase in Miscanthus giganteus and Glycine max
Greenhouse gasses trap heat, and carbon dioxide levels are higher than they have been in the past 650,000 years. Global temperatures are up two degrees celsius from those during the industrial revolution, and temperatures are predicted to rise by at least six degrees celsius by 2100. With temperatures rising, there will be serious effects on agriculture. RuBisCO is one of the most abundant enzymes on Earth, and is involved in carbon fixation in all plants. RuBisCO activase is necessary for the effective function of RuBisCO, but is also a temperature sensitive protein that becomes inactive easily when temperatures increase. Our experiment aims to engineer the protein RuBisCO activase to have a higher thermal tolerance to mitigate the negative effects of increasing global temperatures on food supply. We chose Glycine max (soybean) as one target for protein engineering because of its importance in global agriculture. We chose Miscanthus giganteus as the other target because of its potential for use in biofuel production. We hope to create more stable versions of the RuBisCO activase enzymes from these plants using site-directed mutagenesis to introduce changes in the protein sequence followed by protein thermal shift assays to measure improvements in thermal tolerance.