Facilitated Channeling of Fixed Carbon and Energy into Chemicals in Artificial Phototrophic Communities

Light-driven CO₂ biovalorization offers a promising route for coupling carbon mitigation with petrochemical replacement. Synthetic phototrophic communities that mimic lichens can reduce the metabolic burden with improved CO₂ utilization. However, inefficient channeling of carbon and energy between species seriously hinders the collaborative CO₂-to-molecule route. Herein, we report a universal carbon sequestration (UCS) module based on photosynthetic microbes that provides a high-speed tunnel for channeling carbon and energy to heterotrophs. Compared to that of the traditional CO₂-to-sucrose module, the UCS module sequestered 30% more carbon into glycerol, a generally available carbon source with high energy density. We demonstrated that the UCS module can be highly compatible with various industrial chassis and genetically recalcitrant microbes, enabling the rapid development of synthetic phototrophic communities without additional genetic manipulation. Notably, the accelerated electron transport and nutrient recycling systems may facilitate carbon and energy communications between cooperative partners. These UCS module-based communities efficiently channeled CO₂ into a wide range of chemicals, with a negative carbon footprint of -25.04 to -440.74 kgCO₂e/kg of products. This strategy widens the boundaries of artificial photosynthetic communities and may boost carbon-negative biomanufacturing.