Upgrading protein synthesis for synthetic biology

Regulation of recombination and genomic maintenance

Recombination is a central process to stably maintain and transmit a genome through somatic cell divisions and to new generations. Hence, recombination needs to be coordinated with other events occurring on the DNA template, such as DNA replication, transcription, and the specialized chromosomal functions at centromeres and telomeres. Moreover, regulation with respect to the cell-cycle stage is required as much as spatiotemporal coordination within the nuclear volume. These regulatory mechanisms impinge on the DNA substrate through modifications of the chromatin and directly on recombination proteins through a myriad of posttranslational modifications (PTMs) and additional mechanisms. Although recombination is primarily appreciated to maintain genomic stability, the process also contributes to gross chromosomal arrangements and copy-number changes. Hence, the recombination process itself requires quality control to ensure high fidelity and avoid genomic instability. Evidently, recombination and its regulatory processes have significant impact on human disease, specifically cancer and, possibly, neurodegenerative diseases.

Repurposing the translation apparatus for synthetic biology

The translation system (the ribosome and associated factors) is the cell's factory for protein synthesis. The extraordinary catalytic capacity of the protein synthesis machinery has driven extensive efforts to harness it for novel functions. For example, pioneering efforts have demonstrated that it is possible to genetically encode more than the 20 natural amino acids and that this encoding can be a powerful tool to expand the chemical diversity of proteins. Here, we discuss recent advances in efforts to expand the chemistry of living systems, highlighting improvements to the molecular machinery and genomically recoded organisms, applications of cell-free systems, and extensions of these efforts to include eukaryotic systems. The transformative potential of repurposing the translation apparatus has emerged as one of the defining opportunities at the interface of chemical and synthetic biology.

Protein stabilization utilizing a redefined codon

Recent advances have fundamentally changed the ways in which synthetic amino acids are incorporated into proteins, enabling their efficient and multiple-site incorporation, in addition to the 20 canonical amino acids. This development provides opportunities for fresh approaches toward addressing fundamental problems in bioengineering. In the present study, we showed that the structural stability of proteins can be enhanced by integrating bulky halogenated amino acids at multiple selected sites. Glutathione S-transferase was thus stabilized significantly (by 5.2 and 5.6 kcal/mol) with 3-chloro- and 3-bromo-l-tyrosines, respectively, incorporated at seven selected sites. X-ray crystallographic analyses revealed that the bulky halogen moieties filled internal spaces within the molecules, and formed non-canonical stabilizing interactions with the neighboring residues. This new mechanism for protein stabilization is quite simple and applicable to a wide range of proteins, as demonstrated by the rapid stabilization of the industrially relevant azoreductase.

Cotranslational incorporation of non-standard amino acids using cell-free protein synthesis

Over the last years protein engineering using non-standard amino acids has gained increasing attention. As a result, improved methods are now available, enabling the efficient and directed cotranslational incorporation of various non-standard amino acids to equip proteins with desired characteristics. In this context, the utilization of cell-free protein synthesis is particularly useful due to the direct accessibility of the translational machinery and synthesized proteins without having to maintain a vital cellular host. We review prominent methods for the incorporation of non-standard amino acids into proteins using cell-free protein synthesis. Furthermore, a list of non-standard amino acids that have been successfully incorporated into proteins in cell-free systems together with selected applications is provided.

Metallopeptide catalysts and artificial metalloenzymes containing unnatural amino acids

Metallopeptide catalysts and artificial metalloenzymes built from peptide scaffolds and catalytically active metal centers possess a number of exciting properties that could be exploited for selective catalysis. Control over metal catalyst secondary coordination spheres, compatibility with library based methods for optimization and evolution, and biocompatibility stand out in this regard. A wide range of unnatural amino acids (UAAs) have been incorporated into peptide and protein scaffolds using several distinct methods, and the resulting UAAs containing scaffolds can be used to create novel hybrid metal-peptide catalysts. Promising levels of selectivity have been demonstrated for several hybrid catalysts, and these provide a strong impetus and important lessons for the design of and optimization of hybrid catalysts.

Semisynthetic tRNA complement mediates in vitro protein synthesis

Genetic code expansion is a key objective of synthetic biology and protein engineering. Most efforts in this direction are focused on reassigning termination or decoding quadruplet codons. While the redundancy of genetic code provides a large number of potentially reassignable codons, their utility is diminished by the inevitable interaction with cognate aminoacyl-tRNAs. To address this problem, we sought to establish an in vitro protein synthesis system with a simplified synthetic tRNA complement, thereby orthogonalizing some of the sense codons. This quantitative in vitro peptide synthesis assay allowed us to analyze the ability of synthetic tRNAs to decode all of 61 sense codons. We observed that, with the exception of isoacceptors for Asn, Glu, and Ile, the majority of 48 synthetic Escherichia coli tRNAs could support protein translation in the cell-free system. We purified to homogeneity functional Asn, Glu, and Ile tRNAs from the native E. coli tRNA mixture, and by combining them with synthetic tRNAs, we formulated a semisynthetic tRNA complement for all 20 amino acids. We further demonstrated that this tRNA complement could restore the protein translation activity of tRNA-depleted E. coli lysate to a level comparable to that of total native tRNA. To confirm that the developed system could efficiently synthesize long polypeptides, we expressed three different sequences coding for superfolder GFP. This novel semisynthetic translation system is a powerful tool for tRNA engineering and potentially enables the reassignment of at least 9 sense codons coding for Ser, Arg, Leu, Pro, Thr, and Gly.

Recoded organisms engineered to depend on synthetic amino acids

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are increasingly used in research and industrial systems to produce high-value pharmaceuticals, fuels, and chemicals¹. Genetic isolation and intrinsic biocontainment would provide essential biosafety measures to secure these closed systems and enable safe applications of GMOs in open systems^2,3, which include bioremediation⁴ and probiotics⁵. Although safeguards have been designed to control cell growth by essential gene regulation⁶, inducible toxin switches⁷, and engineered auxotrophies⁸, these approaches are compromised by cross-feeding of essential metabolites, leaked expression of essential genes, or genetic mutations^9,10. Here, we describe the construction of a series of genomically recoded organisms (GROs)¹¹ whose growth is restricted by the expression of multiple essential genes that depend on exogenously supplied synthetic amino acids (sAAs). We introduced a Methanocaldococcus jannaschii tRNA:aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (aaRS) pair into the chromosome of a GRO that lacks all TAG codons and release factor 1, endowing this organism with the orthogonal translational components to convert TAG into a dedicated sense codon for sAAs. Using multiplex automated genome engineering (MAGE)¹², we introduced in-frame TAG codons into 22 essential genes, linking their expression to the incorporation of synthetic phenylalanine-derived amino acids. Of the 60 sAA-dependent variants isolated, a notable strain harboring 3 TAG codons in conserved functional residues¹³ of MurG, DnaA and SerS and containing targeted tRNA deletions maintained robust growth and exhibited undetectable escape frequencies upon culturing ∼10¹¹ cells on solid media for seven days or in liquid media for 20 days. This is a significant improvement over existing biocontainment approaches^2,3,6-10. We constructed synthetic auxotrophs dependent on sAAs that were not rescued by cross-feeding in environmental growth assays. These auxotrophic GROs possess alternate genetic codes that impart genetic isolation by impeding horizontal gene transfer¹¹ and now depend on the use of synthetic biochemical building blocks, advancing orthogonal barriers between engineered organisms and the environment.

Recoding aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases for synthetic biology by rational protein-RNA engineering

We have taken a rational approach to redesigning the amino acid binding and aminoacyl–tRNA pairing specificities of bacterial glutaminyl–tRNA synthetase. The four-stage engineering incorporates generalizable design principles and improves the pairing efficiency of noncognate glutamate with tRNA^Gln by over 10⁵-fold compared to the wild-type enzyme. Better optimized designs of the protein–RNA complex include substantial reengineering of the globular core region of the tRNA, demonstrating a role for specific tRNA nucleotides in specifying the identity of the genetically encoded amino acid. Principles emerging from this engineering effort open new prospects for combining rational and genetic selection approaches to design novel aminoacyl–tRNA synthetases that ligate noncanonical amino acids onto tRNAs. This will facilitate reconstruction of the cellular translation apparatus for applications in synthetic biology.

Reducing the genetic code induces massive rearrangement of the proteome

Expanding the genetic code is an important aim of synthetic biology, but some organisms developed naturally expanded genetic codes long ago over the course of evolution. Less than 1% of all sequenced genomes encode an operon that reassigns the stop codon UAG to pyrrolysine (Pyl), a genetic code variant that results from the biosynthesis of Pyl-tRNA(Pyl). To understand the selective advantage of genetically encoding more than 20 amino acids, we constructed a markerless tRNA(Pyl) deletion strain of Methanosarcina acetivorans (ΔpylT) that cannot decode UAG as Pyl or grow on trimethylamine. Phenotypic defects in the ΔpylT strain were evident in minimal medium containing methanol. Proteomic analyses of wild type (WT) M. acetivorans and ΔpylT cells identified 841 proteins from >7,000 significant peptides detected by MS/MS. Protein production from UAG-containing mRNAs was verified for 19 proteins. Translation of UAG codons was verified by MS/MS for eight proteins, including identification of a Pyl residue in PylB, which catalyzes the first step of Pyl biosynthesis. Deletion of tRNA(Pyl) globally altered the proteome, leading to >300 differentially abundant proteins. Reduction of the genetic code from 21 to 20 amino acids led to significant down-regulation in translation initiation factors, amino acid metabolism, and methanogenesis from methanol, which was offset by a compensatory (100-fold) up-regulation in dimethyl sulfide metabolic enzymes. The data show how a natural proteome adapts to genetic code reduction and indicate that the selective value of an expanded genetic code is related to carbon source range and metabolic efficiency.

Polyspecific pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetases from directed evolution

Pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase (PylRS) and its cognate tRNA(Pyl) have emerged as ideal translation components for genetic code innovation. Variants of the enzyme facilitate the incorporation >100 noncanonical amino acids (ncAAs) into proteins. PylRS variants were previously selected to acylate N(ε)-acetyl-Lys (AcK) onto tRNA(Pyl). Here, we examine an N(ε)-acetyl-lysyl-tRNA synthetase (AcKRS), which is polyspecific (i.e., active with a broad range of ncAAs) and 30-fold more efficient with Phe derivatives than it is with AcK. Structural and biochemical data reveal the molecular basis of polyspecificity in AcKRS and in a PylRS variant [iodo-phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase (IFRS)] that displays both enhanced activity and substrate promiscuity over a chemical library of 313 ncAAs. IFRS, a product of directed evolution, has distinct binding modes for different ncAAs. These data indicate that in vivo selections do not produce optimally specific tRNA synthetases and suggest that translation fidelity will become an increasingly dominant factor in expanding the genetic code far beyond 20 amino acids.

Revealing the amino acid composition of proteins within an expanded genetic code

The genetic code can be manipulated to reassign codons for the incorporation of non-standard amino acids (NSAA). Deletion of release factor 1 in Escherichia coli enhances translation of UAG (Stop) codons, yet may also extended protein synthesis at natural UAG terminated messenger RNAs. The fidelity of protein synthesis at reassigned UAG codons and the purity of the NSAA containing proteins produced require careful examination. Proteomics would be an ideal tool for these tasks, but conventional proteomic analyses cannot readily identify the extended proteins and accurately discover multiple amino acid (AA) insertions at a single UAG. To address these challenges, we created a new proteomic workflow that enabled the detection of UAG readthrough in native proteins in E. coli strains in which UAG was reassigned to encode phosphoserine. The method also enabled quantitation of NSAA and natural AA incorporation at UAG in a recombinant reporter protein. As a proof-of-principle, we measured the fidelity and purity of the phosphoserine orthogonal translation system (OTS) and used this information to improve its performance. Our results show a surprising diversity of natural AAs at reassigned stop codons. Our method can be used to improve OTSs and to quantify amino acid purity at reassigned codons in organisms with expanded genetic codes.

Recoding the genetic code with selenocysteine

Selenocysteine (Sec) is naturally incorporated into proteins by recoding the stop codon UGA. Sec is not hardwired to UGA, as the Sec insertion machinery was found to be able to site-specifically incorporate Sec directed by 58 of the 64 codons. For 15 sense codons, complete conversion of the codon meaning from canonical amino acid (AA) to Sec was observed along with a tenfold increase in selenoprotein yield compared to Sec insertion at the three stop codons. This high-fidelity sense-codon recoding mechanism was demonstrated for Escherichia coli formate dehydrogenase and recombinant human thioredoxin reductase and confirmed by independent biochemical and biophysical methods. Although Sec insertion at UGA is known to compete against protein termination, it is surprising that the Sec machinery has the ability to outcompete abundant aminoacyl-tRNAs in decoding sense codons. The findings have implications for the process of translation and the information storage capacity of the biological cell.

Engineering the elongation factor Tu for efficient selenoprotein synthesis

Selenocysteine (Sec) is naturally co-translationally incorporated into proteins by recoding the UGA opal codon with a specialized elongation factor (SelB in bacteria) and an RNA structural signal (SECIS element). We have recently developed a SECIS-free selenoprotein synthesis system that site-specifically—using the UAG amber codon—inserts Sec depending on the elongation factor Tu (EF-Tu). Here, we describe the engineering of EF-Tu for improved selenoprotein synthesis. A Sec-specific selection system was established by expression of human protein O⁶-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase (hAGT), in which the active site cysteine codon has been replaced by the UAG amber codon. The formed hAGT selenoprotein repairs the DNA damage caused by the methylating agent N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, and thereby enables Escherichia coli to grow in the presence of this mutagen. An EF-Tu library was created in which codons specifying the amino acid binding pocket were randomized. Selection was carried out for enhanced Sec incorporation into hAGT; the resulting EF-Tu variants contained highly conserved amino acid changes within members of the library. The improved UTu-system with EF-Sel1 raises the efficiency of UAG-specific Sec incorporation to >90%, and also doubles the yield of selenoprotein production.

Non-standard amino acid incorporation into proteins using Escherichia coli cell-free protein synthesis

Incorporating non-standard amino acids (NSAAs) into proteins enables new chemical properties, new structures, and new functions. In recent years, improvements in cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) systems have opened the way to accurate and efficient incorporation of NSAAs into proteins. The driving force behind this development has been three-fold. First, a technical renaissance has enabled high-yielding (>1 g/L) and long-lasting (>10 h in batch operation) CFPS in systems derived from Escherichia coli. Second, the efficiency of orthogonal translation systems (OTSs) has improved. Third, the open nature of the CFPS platform has brought about an unprecedented level of control and freedom of design. Here, we review recent developments in CFPS platforms designed to precisely incorporate NSAAs. In the coming years, we anticipate that CFPS systems will impact efforts to elucidate structure/function relationships of proteins and to make biomaterials and sequence-defined biopolymers for medical and industrial applications.

Exploring the substrate range of wild-type aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases

We tested the substrate range of four wild-type E. coli aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (AARSs) with a library of nonstandard amino acids (nsAAs). Although these AARSs could discriminate efficiently against the other canonical amino acids, they were able to use many nsAAs as substrates. Our results also show that E. coli tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase (TrpRS) and tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase have overlapping substrate ranges. In addition, we found that the nature of the anticodon sequence of tRNA(Trp) altered the nsAA substrate range of TrpRS; this implies that the sequence of the anticodon affects the TrpRS amino acid binding pocket. These results highlight again that inherent AARS polyspecificity will be a major challenge in the aim of incorporating multiple different amino acids site-specifically into proteins.

Sense codon emancipation for proteome-wide incorporation of noncanonical amino acids: rare isoleucine codon AUA as a target for genetic code expansion

One of the major challenges in contemporary synthetic biology is to find a route to engineer synthetic organisms with altered chemical constitution. In terms of core reaction types, nature uses an astonishingly limited repertoire of chemistries when compared with the exceptionally rich and diverse methods of organic chemistry. In this context, the most promising route to change and expand the fundamental chemistry of life is the inclusion of amino acid building blocks beyond the canonical 20 (i.e. expanding the genetic code). This strategy would allow the transfer of numerous chemical functionalities and reactions from the synthetic laboratory into the cellular environment. Due to limitations in terms of both efficiency and practical applicability, state-of-the-art nonsense suppression- or frameshift suppression-based methods are less suitable for such engineering. Consequently, we set out to achieve this goal by sense codon emancipation, that is, liberation from its natural decoding function – a prerequisite for the reassignment of degenerate sense codons to a new 21st amino acid. We have achieved this by redesigning of several features of the post-transcriptional modification machinery which are directly involved in the decoding process. In particular, we report first steps towards the reassignment of 5797 AUA isoleucine codons in Escherichia coli using efficient tools for tRNA nucleotide modification pathway engineering.

The selenocysteine incorporation machinery allows the dual use of sense codons: a new strategy for expanding the genetic code?

Sense and Secis: Even though selenocysteine, Sec, is naturally incorporated by suppressing UAG stop codons, it was recently shown that sense codons such as UAC can efficiently code for Sec. This article highlights the implications of using such a strategy to introduce unnatural amino acids site-selectively into proteins.

Experimental challenges of sense codon reassignment: an innovative approach to genetic code expansion

The addition of new and versatile chemical and biological properties to proteins pursued through incorporation of non-canonical amino acids is at present primarily achieved by stop codon suppression. However, it is critical to find new "blank" codons to increase the variety and efficiency of such insertions, thereby taking 'sense codon recoding' to center stage in the field of genetic code expansion. Current thought optimistically suggests the use of the pyrrolysine system coupled with re-synthesis of genomic information towards achieving sense codon reassignment. Upon review of the serious experimental challenges reported in recent studies, we propose that success in this area will depend on the re-synthesis of genomes, but also on 'rewiring' the mechanism of protein synthesis and of its quality control.