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Anhel AM, Alejaldre L, Goñi-Moreno Á. The Laboratory Automation Protocol (LAP) Format and Repository: A Platform for Enhancing Workflow Efficiency in Synthetic Biology. ACS Synth Biol 2023; 12:3514-3520. [PMID: 37982688 PMCID: PMC7615385 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.3c00397] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2023] [Revised: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 11/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/21/2023]
Abstract
Laboratory automation deals with eliminating manual tasks in high-throughput protocols. It therefore plays a crucial role in allowing fast and reliable synthetic biology. However, implementing open-source automation solutions often demands experimental scientists to possess scripting skills, and even when they do, there is no standardized toolkit available for their use. To address this, we present the Laboratory Automation Protocol (LAP) Format and Repository. LAPs adhere to a standardized script-based format, enhancing end-user implementation and simplifying further development. With a modular design, LAPs can be seamlessly combined to create customized, target-specific workflows. Furthermore, all LAPs undergo experimental validation, ensuring their reliability. Detailed information is provided within each repository entry, allowing users to validate the LAPs in their own laboratory settings. We advocate for the adoption of the LAP Format and Repository as a community resource, which will continue to expand, improving the reliability and reproducibility of the automation processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana-Mariya Anhel
- Centro
de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM)-Instituto Nacional de Investigación
y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA/CSIC), 28223, Madrid, Spain
| | - Lorea Alejaldre
- Centro
de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM)-Instituto Nacional de Investigación
y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA/CSIC), 28223, Madrid, Spain
| | - Ángel Goñi-Moreno
- Centro
de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM)-Instituto Nacional de Investigación
y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA/CSIC), 28223, Madrid, Spain
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2
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Chan DTC, Baldwin GS, Bernstein HC. Revealing the Host-Dependent Nature of an Engineered Genetic Inverter in Concordance with Physiology. BIODESIGN RESEARCH 2023; 5:0016. [PMID: 37849456 PMCID: PMC10432152 DOI: 10.34133/bdr.0016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2023] [Accepted: 07/17/2023] [Indexed: 10/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Broad-host-range synthetic biology is an emerging frontier that aims to expand our current engineerable domain of microbial hosts for biodesign applications. As more novel species are brought to "model status," synthetic biologists are discovering that identically engineered genetic circuits can exhibit different performances depending on the organism it operates within, an observation referred to as the "chassis effect." It remains a major challenge to uncover which genome-encoded and biological determinants will underpin chassis effects that govern the performance of engineered genetic devices. In this study, we compared model and novel bacterial hosts to ask whether phylogenomic relatedness or similarity in host physiology is a better predictor of genetic circuit performance. This was accomplished using a comparative framework based on multivariate statistical approaches to systematically demonstrate the chassis effect and characterize the performance dynamics of a genetic inverter circuit operating within 6 Gammaproteobacteria. Our results solidify the notion that genetic devices are strongly impacted by the host context. Furthermore, we formally determined that hosts exhibiting more similar metrics of growth and molecular physiology also exhibit more similar performance of the genetic inverter, indicating that specific bacterial physiology underpins measurable chassis effects. The result of this study contributes to the field of broad-host-range synthetic biology by lending increased predictive power to the implementation of genetic devices in less-established microbial hosts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dennis Tin Chat Chan
- Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, 9019 Tromsø, Norway
| | - Geoff S. Baldwin
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, UK
- Imperial College Centre for Synthetic Biology, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Hans C. Bernstein
- Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, 9019 Tromsø, Norway
- The Arctic Centre for Sustainable Energy, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, 9019 Tromsø, Norway
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3
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de Siqueira GMV, Guazzaroni ME. Host-Dependent Improvement of GFP Expression in Pseudomonas putida KT2440 Using Terminators of Metagenomic Origin. ACS Synth Biol 2023; 12:1562-1566. [PMID: 37126733 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.3c00098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Transcriptional terminators are key players in the flow of genetic information, but are often overlooked in circuit design. In this work, we used the Standard European Vector Architecture (SEVA) as a scaffold to investigate the effects of different terminators in the output of a reporter construct expressed in two bacterial species, and found that replacing the conventional T1 and T0 transcriptional terminators of the SEVA vector format with a set of broad-host metagenomic terminators resulted in a significant improvement in the signal of a fluorescent device in Pseudomonas putida KT2440 but not in Escherichia coli DH10B. Our results suggest that replacing the default set of terminators present in the SEVA specification may be an useful strategy for fine-tuning circuit expression in P. putida, which can be leveraged for the development of new devices with improved performance in this microbial host.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - María-Eugenia Guazzaroni
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters at Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirao Preto 14040-901, Brazil
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Martínez-García E, Fraile S, Algar E, Aparicio T, Velázquez E, Calles B, Tas H, Blázquez B, Martín B, Prieto C, Sánchez-Sampedro L, Nørholm MH, Volke D, Wirth N, Dvořák P, Alejaldre L, Grozinger L, Crowther M, Goñi-Moreno A, Nikel P, Nogales J, de Lorenzo V. SEVA 4.0: an update of the Standard European Vector Architecture database for advanced analysis and programming of bacterial phenotypes. Nucleic Acids Res 2023; 51:D1558-D1567. [PMID: 36420904 PMCID: PMC9825617 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkac1059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2022] [Revised: 10/22/2022] [Accepted: 10/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The SEVA platform (https://seva-plasmids.com) was launched one decade ago, both as a database (DB) and as a physical repository of plasmid vectors for genetic analysis and engineering of Gram-negative bacteria with a structure and nomenclature that follows a strict, fixed architecture of functional DNA segments. While the current update keeps the basic features of earlier versions, the platform has been upgraded not only with many more ready-to-use plasmids but also with features that expand the range of target species, harmonize DNA assembly methods and enable new applications. In particular, SEVA 4.0 includes (i) a sub-collection of plasmids for easing the composition of multiple DNA segments with MoClo/Golden Gate technology, (ii) vectors for Gram-positive bacteria and yeast and [iii] off-the-shelf constructs with built-in functionalities. A growing collection of plasmids that capture part of the standard-but not its entirety-has been compiled also into the DB and repository as a separate corpus (SEVAsib) because of its value as a resource for constructing and deploying phenotypes of interest. Maintenance and curation of the DB were accompanied by dedicated diffusion and communication channels that make the SEVA platform a popular resource for genetic analyses, genome editing and bioengineering of a large number of microorganisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Esteban Martínez-García
- Systems Biology Department, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), 28049 Cantoblanco-Madrid, Spain
| | - Sofía Fraile
- Systems Biology Department, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), 28049 Cantoblanco-Madrid, Spain
| | - Elena Algar
- Systems Biology Department, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), 28049 Cantoblanco-Madrid, Spain
| | - Tomás Aparicio
- Systems Biology Department, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), 28049 Cantoblanco-Madrid, Spain
| | - Elena Velázquez
- Systems Biology Department, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), 28049 Cantoblanco-Madrid, Spain
| | - Belén Calles
- Systems Biology Department, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), 28049 Cantoblanco-Madrid, Spain
| | - Huseyin Tas
- Systems Biology Department, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), 28049 Cantoblanco-Madrid, Spain
| | - Blas Blázquez
- Systems Biology Department, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), 28049 Cantoblanco-Madrid, Spain
| | | | | | | | - Morten H H Nørholm
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Daniel C Volke
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Nicolas T Wirth
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Pavel Dvořák
- Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno 62500 Czech Republic
| | - Lorea Alejaldre
- Centro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (INIA-CSIC), Pozuelo de Alarcón 28223, Spain
| | - Lewis Grozinger
- Centro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (INIA-CSIC), Pozuelo de Alarcón 28223, Spain
- School of Computing, Newcastle University, NE4 5TG, UK
| | - Matthew Crowther
- Centro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (INIA-CSIC), Pozuelo de Alarcón 28223, Spain
- School of Computing, Newcastle University, NE4 5TG, UK
| | - Angel Goñi-Moreno
- Centro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (INIA-CSIC), Pozuelo de Alarcón 28223, Spain
| | - Pablo I Nikel
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Juan Nogales
- Systems Biology Department, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), 28049 Cantoblanco-Madrid, Spain
| | - Víctor de Lorenzo
- Systems Biology Department, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), 28049 Cantoblanco-Madrid, Spain
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Jenkins Sánchez LR, Claus S, Muth LT, Salvador López JM, Van Bogaert I. Force in numbers: high-throughput screening approaches to unlock microbial transport. Curr Opin Biotechnol 2021; 74:204-210. [PMID: 34968868 DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2021.11.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2021] [Revised: 11/19/2021] [Accepted: 11/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Biological membranes are inherently complex, making transport processes in microbial cell factories a significant bottleneck. Lack of knowledge on transport proteins' characteristics and the need for advanced technical equipment often hamper transporter identification and optimization. For these reasons, moving away from individual characterization and towards high-throughput mining, engineering, and screening of transporters is an increasingly attractive approach. Superior transporters can be selected from large libraries by coupling their activity to growth, for substrates that function as feedstocks or toxic compounds. Other compounds can be screened thanks to recent advances in the design and deployment of synthetic genetic circuits (biosensors). Furthermore, novel strategies are rapidly increasing the repertoire of biomolecule transporters susceptible to high-throughput selection methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liam Richard Jenkins Sánchez
- Centre for Synthetic Biology, Department of Biotechnology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, Ghent, 9000, Belgium
| | - Silke Claus
- Centre for Synthetic Biology, Department of Biotechnology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, Ghent, 9000, Belgium
| | - Liv Teresa Muth
- Centre for Synthetic Biology, Department of Biotechnology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, Ghent, 9000, Belgium
| | - José Manuel Salvador López
- Centre for Synthetic Biology, Department of Biotechnology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, Ghent, 9000, Belgium
| | - Inge Van Bogaert
- Centre for Synthetic Biology, Department of Biotechnology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, Ghent, 9000, Belgium.
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Tas H, Grozinger L, Goñi-Moreno A, de Lorenzo V. Automated design and implementation of a NOR gate in Pseudomonas putida. Synth Biol (Oxf) 2021; 6:ysab024. [PMID: 34712846 PMCID: PMC8546601 DOI: 10.1093/synbio/ysab024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2021] [Revised: 07/13/2021] [Accepted: 08/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Boolean NOR gates have been widely implemented in Escherichia coli as transcriptional regulatory devices for building complex genetic circuits. Yet, their portability to other bacterial hosts/chassis is generally hampered by frequent changes in the parameters of the INPUT/OUTPUT response functions brought about by new genetic and biochemical contexts. Here, we have used the circuit design tool CELLO for assembling a NOR gate in the soil bacterium and the metabolic engineering platform Pseudomonas putida with components tailored for E. coli. To this end, we capitalized on the functional parameters of 20 genetic inverters for each host and the resulting compatibility between NOT pairs. Moreover, we added to the gate library three inducible promoters that are specific to P. putida, thus expanding cross-platform assembly options. While the number of potential connectable inverters decreased drastically when moving the library from E. coli to P. putida, the CELLO software was still able to find an effective NOR gate in the new chassis. The automated generation of the corresponding DNA sequence and in vivo experimental verification accredited that some genetic modules initially optimized for E. coli can indeed be reused to deliver NOR logic in P. putida as well. Furthermore, the results highlight the value of creating host-specific collections of well-characterized regulatory inverters for the quick assembly of genetic circuits to meet complex specifications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huseyin Tas
- Systems Biology Department, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología-CSIC, Madrid, Spain
| | - Lewis Grozinger
- School of Computing, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
| | | | - Victor de Lorenzo
- Systems Biology Department, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología-CSIC, Madrid, Spain
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7
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Tas H, Grozinger L, Stoof R, de Lorenzo V, Goñi-Moreno Á. Contextual dependencies expand the re-usability of genetic inverters. Nat Commun 2021; 12:355. [PMID: 33441561 PMCID: PMC7806840 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20656-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2020] [Accepted: 12/02/2020] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The implementation of Boolean logic circuits in cells have become a very active field within synthetic biology. Although these are mostly focussed on the genetic components alone, the context in which the circuit performs is crucial for its outcome. We characterise 20 genetic NOT logic gates in up to 7 bacterial-based contexts each, to generate 135 different functions. The contexts we focus on are combinations of four plasmid backbones and three hosts, two Escherichia coli and one Pseudomonas putida strains. Each gate shows seven different dynamic behaviours, depending on the context. That is, gates can be fine-tuned by changing only contextual parameters, thus improving the compatibility between gates. Finally, we analyse portability by measuring, scoring, and comparing gate performance across contexts. Rather than being a limitation, we argue that the effect of the genetic background on synthetic constructs expands functionality, and advocate for considering context as a fundamental design parameter.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huseyin Tas
- grid.428469.50000 0004 1794 1018Systems Biology Department, Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia-CSIC, Campus de Cantoblanco, Madrid, 28049 Spain
| | - Lewis Grozinger
- grid.1006.70000 0001 0462 7212School of Computing, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE4 5TG UK
| | - Ruud Stoof
- grid.1006.70000 0001 0462 7212School of Computing, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE4 5TG UK
| | - Victor de Lorenzo
- grid.428469.50000 0004 1794 1018Systems Biology Department, Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia-CSIC, Campus de Cantoblanco, Madrid, 28049 Spain
| | - Ángel Goñi-Moreno
- grid.1006.70000 0001 0462 7212School of Computing, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE4 5TG UK ,grid.419190.40000 0001 2300 669XCentro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas (CBGP, UPM-INIA), Universidad Politénica de Madrid (UPM), Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Campus de Montegancedo-UPM, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain
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