{"doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.053","title":"Deep-branching evolutionary intermediates reveal structural origins of form I rubisco","abstract":"The enzyme rubisco (ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase) catalyzes the majority of biological carbon fixation on Earth. Although the vast majority of rubiscos across the tree of life assemble as homo-oligomers, the globally predominant form I enzyme-found in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria-forms a unique hetero-oligomeric complex. The recent discovery of a homo-oligomeric sister group to form I rubisco (named form I') has filled a key gap in our understanding of the enigmatic origins of the form I clade. However, to elucidate the series of molecular events leading to the evolution of form I rubisco, we must examine more distantly related sibling clades to contextualize the molecular features distinguishing form I and form I' rubiscos. Here, we present a comparative structural study retracing the evolutionary history of rubisco that reveals a complex structural trajectory leading to the ultimate hetero-oligomerization of the form I clade. We structurally characterize the oligomeric states of deep-branching form Iα and I'' rubiscos recently discovered from metagenomes, which represent key evolutionary intermediates preceding the form I clade. We further solve the structure of form I'' rubisco, revealing the molecular determinants that likely primed the enzyme core for the transition from a homo-oligomer to a hetero-oligomer. Our findings yield new insight into the evolutionary trajectory underpinning the adoption and entrenchment of the prevalent assembly of form I rubisco, providing additional context when viewing the enzyme family through the broader lens of protein evolution.","journal":"Current Biology","year":2023,"id":347073,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":12,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9513,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1088501,"name":"Benjamin Kaeser","orcid":"0000-0002-6569-3608","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":208916,"name":"Lin-Xing Chen","orcid":"0000-0003-2774-1952","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":985753,"name":"Jacob West-Roberts","orcid":"0000-0001-8797-5617","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1088502,"name":"Leah J. Taylor‐Kearney","orcid":"0000-0001-7530-7670","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":225967,"name":"Adi Lavy","orcid":"0000-0002-7518-1913","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1088503,"name":"Damian Günzing","orcid":"0000-0002-4350-5098","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":225982,"name":"Wen‐Jun Li","orcid":"0000-0002-1233-736X","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":260633,"name":"Michal Hammel","orcid":"0000-0002-5610-9289","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":308992,"name":"Eva Nogales","orcid":"0000-0001-9816-3681","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":206153,"name":"Jillian F. Banfield","orcid":"0000-0001-8203-8771","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":416296,"name":"Patrick M. Shih","orcid":"0000-0002-2119-3345","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1088500,"name":"Albert K. Liu","orcid":"0000-0001-9500-0449","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":60,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:11:57.720122Z","pmid":"37979578","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}