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Wagner L, Jules M, Borkowski O. What remains from living cells in bacterial lysate-based cell-free systems. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2023; 21:3173-3182. [PMID: 37333859 PMCID: PMC10275740 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2023.05.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2023] [Revised: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 05/23/2023] [Indexed: 06/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Because they mimic cells while offering an accessible and controllable environment, lysate-based cell-free systems (CFS) have emerged as valuable biotechnology tools for synthetic biology. Historically used to uncover fundamental mechanisms of life, CFS are nowadays used for a multitude of purposes, including protein production and prototyping of synthetic circuits. Despite the conservation of fundamental functions in CFS like transcription and translation, RNAs and certain membrane-embedded or membrane-bound proteins of the host cell are lost when preparing the lysate. As a result, CFS largely lack some essential properties of living cells, such as the ability to adapt to changing conditions, to maintain homeostasis and spatial organization. Regardless of the application, shedding light on the black-box of the bacterial lysate is necessary to fully exploit the potential of CFS. Most measurements of the activity of synthetic circuits in CFS and in vivo show significant correlations because these only require processes that are preserved in CFS, like transcription and translation. However, prototyping circuits of higher complexity that require functions that are lost in CFS (cell adaptation, homeostasis, spatial organization) will not show such a good correlation with in vivo conditions. Both for prototyping circuits of higher complexity and for building artificial cells, the cell-free community has developed devices to reconstruct cellular functions. This mini-review compares bacterial CFS to living cells, focusing on functional and cellular process differences and the latest developments in restoring lost functions through complementation of the lysate or device engineering.
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Shin J, Song Y, Jin S, Lee JK, Kim DR, Kim SC, Cho S, Cho BK. Genome-scale analysis of Acetobacterium bakii reveals the cold adaptation of psychrotolerant acetogens by post-transcriptional regulation. RNA (NEW YORK, N.Y.) 2018; 24:1839-1855. [PMID: 30249742 PMCID: PMC6239172 DOI: 10.1261/rna.068239.118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2018] [Accepted: 09/20/2018] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
Acetogens synthesize acetyl-CoA via CO2 or CO fixation, producing organic compounds. Despite their ecological and industrial importance, their transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation has not been systematically studied. With completion of the genome sequence of Acetobacterium bakii (4.28-Mb), we measured changes in the transcriptome of this psychrotolerant acetogen in response to temperature variations under autotrophic and heterotrophic growth conditions. Unexpectedly, acetogenesis genes were highly up-regulated at low temperatures under heterotrophic, as well as autotrophic, growth conditions. To mechanistically understand the transcriptional regulation of acetogenesis genes via changes in RNA secondary structures of 5'-untranslated regions (5'-UTR), the primary transcriptome was experimentally determined, and 1379 transcription start sites (TSS) and 1100 5'-UTR were found. Interestingly, acetogenesis genes contained longer 5'-UTR with lower RNA-folding free energy than other genes, revealing that the 5'-UTRs control the RNA abundance of the acetogenesis genes under low temperature conditions. Our findings suggest that post-transcriptional regulation via RNA conformational changes of 5'-UTRs is necessary for cold-adaptive acetogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jongoh Shin
- Department of Biological Sciences and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Yoseb Song
- Department of Biological Sciences and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Sangrak Jin
- Department of Biological Sciences and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Jung-Kul Lee
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Republic of Korea
| | - Dong Rip Kim
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Republic of Korea
| | - Sun Chang Kim
- Department of Biological Sciences and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
- Intelligent Synthetic Biology Center, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Suhyung Cho
- Department of Biological Sciences and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Byung-Kwan Cho
- Department of Biological Sciences and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
- Intelligent Synthetic Biology Center, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
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Song Y, Shin J, Jin S, Lee JK, Kim DR, Kim SC, Cho S, Cho BK. Genome-scale analysis of syngas fermenting acetogenic bacteria reveals the translational regulation for its autotrophic growth. BMC Genomics 2018; 19:837. [PMID: 30470174 PMCID: PMC6260860 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-018-5238-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2018] [Accepted: 11/09/2018] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Acetogenic bacteria constitute promising biocatalysts for the conversion of CO2/H2 or synthesis gas (H2/CO/CO2) into biofuels and value-added biochemicals. These microorganisms are naturally capable of autotrophic growth via unique acetogenesis metabolism. Despite their biosynthetic potential for commercial applications, a systemic understanding of the transcriptional and translational regulation of the acetogenesis metabolism remains unclear. Results By integrating genome-scale transcriptomic and translatomic data, we explored the regulatory logic of the acetogenesis to convert CO2 into biomass and metabolites in Eubacterium limosum. The results indicate that majority of genes associated with autotrophic growth including the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway, the reduction of electron carriers, the energy conservation system, and gluconeogenesis were transcriptionally upregulated. The translation efficiency of genes in cellular respiration and electron bifurcation was also highly enhanced. In contrast, the transcriptionally abundant genes involved in the carbonyl branch of the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway, as well as the ion-translocating complex and ATP synthase complex in the energy conservation system, showed decreased translation efficiency. The translation efficiencies of genes were regulated by 5′UTR secondary structure under the autotrophic growth condition. Conclusions The results illustrated that the acetogenic bacteria reallocate protein synthesis, focusing more on the translation of genes for the generation of reduced electron carriers via electron bifurcation, rather than on those for carbon metabolism under autotrophic growth. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-018-5238-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yoseb Song
- Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Jongoh Shin
- Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Sangrak Jin
- Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Jung-Kul Lee
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Konkuk University, Seoul, 05029, Republic of Korea
| | - Dong Rip Kim
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, 04763, Republic of Korea
| | - Sun Chang Kim
- Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea.,KAIST Institute for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea.,Intelligent Synthetic Biology Center, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Suhyung Cho
- Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea.,KAIST Institute for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Byung-Kwan Cho
- Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea. .,KAIST Institute for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea. .,Intelligent Synthetic Biology Center, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea.
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