{"doi":"10.1111/tpj.14745","title":"Structure and function of LCI1: a plasma membrane CO<sub>2</sub> channel in the <i>Chlamydomonas</i> CO<sub>2</sub> concentrating mechanism","abstract":"Abstract Microalgae and cyanobacteria contribute roughly half of the global photosynthetic carbon assimilation. Faced with limited access to CO 2 in aquatic environments, which can vary daily or hourly, these microorganisms have evolved use of an efficient CO 2 concentrating mechanism (CCM) to accumulate high internal concentrations of inorganic carbon (C i ) to maintain photosynthetic performance. For eukaryotic algae, a combination of molecular, genetic and physiological studies using the model organism Chlamydomonas reinhardtii , have revealed the function and molecular characteristics of many CCM components, including active C i uptake systems. Fundamental to eukaryotic C i uptake systems are C i transporters/channels located in membranes of various cell compartments, which together facilitate the movement of C i from the environment into the chloroplast, where primary CO 2 assimilation occurs. Two putative plasma membrane C i transporters, HLA3 and LCI1, are reportedly involved in active C i uptake. Based on previous studies, HLA3 clearly plays a meaningful role in HCO 3 − transport, but the function of LCI1 has not yet been thoroughly investigated so remains somewhat obscure. Here we report a crystal structure of the full‐length LCI1 membrane protein to reveal LCI1 structural characteristics, as well as in vivo physiological studies in an LCI1 loss‐of‐function mutant to reveal the C i species preference for LCI1. Together, these new studies demonstrate LCI1 plays an important role in active CO 2 uptake and that LCI1 likely functions as a plasma membrane CO 2 channel, possibly a gated channel.","journal":"The Plant Journal","year":2020,"id":101369,"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":27,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9597,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2020-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":496208,"name":"Tsung‐Han Chou","orcid":"0000-0001-6154-6283","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":496209,"name":"Abhijith Radhakrishnan","orcid":"0000-0001-8107-3487","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":496210,"name":"Jani Reddy Bolla","orcid":"0000-0003-4346-182X","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":496845,"name":"Kannan Sankar","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":496211,"name":"Sayane Shome","orcid":"0000-0001-7959-470X","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":308715,"name":"Chih‐Chia Su","orcid":"0000-0003-3646-327X","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":496212,"name":"Robert L. Jernigan","orcid":"0000-0003-0996-8360","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":250509,"name":"Carol V. Robinson","orcid":"0000-0001-7829-5505","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":308716,"name":"Edward Yu","orcid":"0000-0001-5912-1227","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":496213,"name":"Martin H. Spalding","orcid":"0000-0003-1380-7519","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":496207,"name":"Alfredo Kono","orcid":"0000-0003-3838-0507","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":54,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T22:39:38.259162Z","pmid":"32168387","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":[]}