RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Using light for energy: examining the evolution of phototrophic metabolism through synthetic construction
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2022.12.06.519405
DO 10.1101/2022.12.06.519405
A1 Autumn Peterson
A1 Carina Baskett
A1 William C. Ratcliff
A1 Anthony Burnetti
YR 2023
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2023/04/06/2022.12.06.519405.abstract
AB The origin of phototrophy was pivotal in increasing the size and scale of the biosphere, as it allowed organisms to utilize light-driven energy transport to drive biological processes. Retinalophototrophy, one of two independently evolved phototrophic pathways, consists of a simple system of microbial rhodopsins which have spread broadly through the tree of life via horizontal gene transfer. Here, we sought to determine whether Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a heterotrophic fungus with no known evolutionary history of phototrophy, can function as a facultative artificial phototroph after acquiring a single rhodopsin gene. We transformed S. cerevisiae into a facultative phototroph by inserting a rhodopsin protein from Ustilago maydis into the yeast vacuole, allowing light to pump protons into the vacuolar compartment, a function typically driven by consuming ATP. We show that yeast with rhodopsins gain a selective advantage when grown under green light, growing more rapidly than their non-phototrophic ancestor or rhodopsin-bearing yeast cultured in the dark. These results underscore the remarkable ease with which rhodopsins may be horizontally transferred even in eukaryotes, providing novel biological function without first requiring evolutionary optimization.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.