Highly efficient inorganic light absorbers combined with highly specific biocatalysts, i.e., chemolithoautotrophic microbes, have recently been proposed for solar-powered biomanufacturing to pave the way in artificial photosynthesis. In this work, we studied the global protein and metabolite changes of a Moorella thermoacetica-CdS (cadmium sulfide quantum dots) hybrid system during light harvesting. The Wood-Ljungdahl pathway (WLP) that has been considered as the main approach for CO₂ fixation was found to be highly activated by CdS. Targeted metabolite quantification revealed that energy-metabolism-associated glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle were also activated. Therefore, we propose an energy-conservation scheme to the M. thermoacetica-CdS hybrid system, i.e., glycolysis and the TCA cycle along with the oxidation of acetyl-coenzyme A (CoA) and NADH, in addition to the well-documented chemiosmotic proton gradient-driven ATP production by ATPase. We expect that the study can be helpful to guide the design of effective and biocompatible photo-biocatalytic systems in the future.

近年来，已提出将高效无机光吸收剂与高度特异的生物催化剂，即化石自养微生物结合，用于太阳能生物制造，从而为人工光合作用铺平道路。在这项工作中，我们研究了光采Moorella thermoacetica -CdS（硫化镉量子点）混合系统的全局蛋白质和代谢物变化。发现CdS高度激活了被认为是CO ₂固定的主要途径的Wood-Ljungdahl途径（WLP）。靶向代谢物定量显示能量代谢相关的糖酵解和三羧酸（TCA）循环也被激活。因此，我们提出了一种对热乙酸穆尔氏菌的节能方案。-CdS杂合系统，即糖酵解和TCA循环以及乙酰辅酶A（CoA）和NADH的氧化，以及已证明的化学渗透质子梯度驱动ATP酶产生的ATP。我们希望这项研究对将来指导有效和具有生物相容性的光生物催化系统的设计有所帮助。