Part:BBa_K5052310

BicA Bicarbonate Transporter

About

BicA is a low-affinity, high-flux bicarbonate transporter belonging to the solute carrier 26 (SLC26) or sulfate permease (SulP) family. The SLC26 family of proteins is characterized by a homodimer structure, which BicA also adopts. Studies suggest that the C-terminal domain is critical to BicA bicarbonate importing activity¹. Like most bicarbonate transporters, it is likely a sodium/bicarbonate symporter.

It is constitutively expressed in all strains of cyanobacteria, in which it plays an important role in the cyanobacteria carbon concentrating mechanism (CCM). The CCM allows cyanobacteria to maximize the carboxylase activity of cyanobacteria RuBisCO while minimizing its oxygenase activity².

Overexpression of bicarbonate transporters, such as BicA, have been shown to increase the carbon fixation capabilities of cyanobacteria. This is shown as an increase in cell growth rate and biomass in the form of glycogen accumulation ³

As BicA is a membrane protein, its expression should be controlled. There needs to be a balance between cell vitality and bicarbonate intake. We did this under an IPTG-inducible promoter cLac145 (Part: BBa_K5052100).

References: (1) Wang, C.; Sun, B.; Zhang, X.; Huang, X.; Zhang, M.; Guo, H.; Chen, X.; Huang, F.; Chen, T.; Mi, H.; Yu, F.; Liu, L.-N.; Zhang, P. Structural Mechanism of the Active Bicarbonate Transporter from Cyanobacteria. Nat. Plants 2019, 5 (11), 1184–1193. doi.org/10.1038/s41477-019-0538-1.

(2) Price, G. D.; Badger, M. R.; Woodger, F. J.; Long, B. M. Advances in Understanding the Cyanobacterial CO2-Concentrating-Mechanism (CCM): Functional Components, Ci Transporters, Diversity, Genetic Regulation and Prospects for Engineering into Plants. J Exp Bot 2008, 59 (7), 1441–1461. doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erm112.

(3) Gupta, J. K.; Rai, P.; Jain, K. K.; Srivastava, S. Overexpression of Bicarbonate Transporters in the Marine Cyanobacterium Synechococcus Sp. PCC 7002 Increases Growth Rate and Glycogen Accumulation. Biotechnol Biofuels 2020, 13, 17. doi.org/10.1186/s13068-020-1656-8.

Sequence and Features

Assembly Compatibility:

• 10
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[10]
• 12
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[12]
• 21
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[21]
• 23
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[23]
• 25
  INCOMPATIBLE WITH RFC[25]

  Illegal NgoMIV site found at 684
  
• 1000
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[1000]