Synthetic approaches to enhance biological carbon capture

Biologically driven strategies to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are gaining traction as long-term means for atmospheric correction. Many ongoing research efforts focus on enhancing the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle with notable focus on the rate-limiting enzyme ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO), aiming to alter its catalytic efficiency, substrate specificity, or cognate regulatory pathways. Beyond these strategies, novel approaches to provide energy to the CBB cycle or synthetic pathways for in vivo autotrophy have opened the door to engineerable carbon-negative biosynthesis. Finally, recent complementary studies that go beyond the CBB cycle to develop entirely new carbon fixation pathways have shown promise in addressing bottlenecks in efficiency and scalability of natural systems. In this perspective, we highlight many of these recent efforts to develop synthetic biology and bioengineering frameworks aimed at improving carbon capture efficiency, biomass productivity, and sustainable energy integration in living systems.