1
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Ouaret R, Minta AB, Albasi C, Choubert JM, Azaïs A. Sulfamethoxazole degradation pathways in wastewater treatment: Bayesian network-based approach for a meta-analysis of scientific papers. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2024:10.1007/s11356-024-34982-4. [PMID: 39356433 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-024-34982-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2024] [Accepted: 09/10/2024] [Indexed: 10/03/2024]
Abstract
Given the widespread presence of micropollutants in urban water systems, it is imperative to gain a comprehensive understanding of their degradation pathways. This paper focuses on sulfamethoxazole (SMX) as a model molecule due to its extensive study, aiming to elucidate its degradation pathways in biological (BIO) and oxidative (AOP) processes. Numerous reaction pathways are outlined in scientific papers. However, a significant deficiency in current methodologies has led to the development of a novel meta-analytical approach, seeking consensus among researchers by synthesizing data from studies characterized by their heterogeneity and contradictions. As an innovative alternative, probabilistic graphical models such as Bayesian networks (BNs) could illuminate the relationships and dependencies between various transformation products, providing a holistic view of the degradation process. Based on the analysis of an extensive bibliography gathering more than 45 articles for more than 140 molecules and 177 reaction pathways, this study proposes a meta-analysis methodology based on Bayesian networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachid Ouaret
- Laboratoire de Génie Chimique, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, INPT, UPS, Toulouse, 31000, France
| | - Ali Badara Minta
- Laboratoire de Génie Chimique, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, INPT, UPS, Toulouse, 31000, France
- INRAE, UR REVERSAAL, 5 Rue de La Doua, CS, 20244, F-69625, Villeurbanne Cedex, France
| | - Claire Albasi
- Laboratoire de Génie Chimique, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, INPT, UPS, Toulouse, 31000, France
| | - Jean-Marc Choubert
- INRAE, UR REVERSAAL, 5 Rue de La Doua, CS, 20244, F-69625, Villeurbanne Cedex, France
| | - Antonin Azaïs
- INRAE, UR REVERSAAL, 5 Rue de La Doua, CS, 20244, F-69625, Villeurbanne Cedex, France.
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2
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Kim T, Lee S, Kwak Y, Choi MS, Park J, Hwang SJ, Kim SG. READRetro: natural product biosynthesis predicting with retrieval-augmented dual-view retrosynthesis. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2024; 243:2512-2527. [PMID: 39081009 DOI: 10.1111/nph.20012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2024] [Accepted: 07/08/2024] [Indexed: 08/23/2024]
Abstract
Plants, as a sessile organism, produce various secondary metabolites to interact with the environment. These chemicals have fascinated the plant science community because of their ecological significance and notable biological activity. However, predicting the complete biosynthetic pathways from target molecules to metabolic building blocks remains a challenge. Here, we propose retrieval-augmented dual-view retrosynthesis (READRetro) as a practical bio-retrosynthesis tool to predict the biosynthetic pathways of plant natural products. Conventional bio-retrosynthesis models have been limited in their ability to predict biosynthetic pathways for natural products. READRetro was optimized for the prediction of complex metabolic pathways by incorporating cutting-edge deep learning architectures, an ensemble approach, and two retrievers. Evaluation of single- and multi-step retrosynthesis showed that each component of READRetro significantly improved its ability to predict biosynthetic pathways. READRetro was also able to propose the known pathways of secondary metabolites such as monoterpene indole alkaloids and the unknown pathway of menisdaurilide, demonstrating its applicability to real-world bio-retrosynthesis of plant natural products. For researchers interested in the biosynthesis and production of secondary metabolites, a user-friendly website (https://readretro.net) and the open-source code of READRetro have been made available.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taein Kim
- Department of Biological Sciences, KAIST, Daejeon, 34141, Korea
| | - Seul Lee
- Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI, KAIST, Daejeon, 34141, Korea
| | - Yejin Kwak
- Department of BioMedical Convergence Engineering, Pusan National University, Yangsan, 50612, Korea
| | - Min-Soo Choi
- Department of Biological Sciences, KAIST, Daejeon, 34141, Korea
| | - Jeongbin Park
- Department of BioMedical Convergence Engineering, Pusan National University, Yangsan, 50612, Korea
| | - Sung Ju Hwang
- Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI, KAIST, Daejeon, 34141, Korea
- School of Computing, KAIST, Daejeon, 34141, Korea
| | - Sang-Gyu Kim
- Department of Biological Sciences, KAIST, Daejeon, 34141, Korea
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3
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Gricourt G, Meyer P, Duigou T, Faulon JL. Artificial Intelligence Methods and Models for Retro-Biosynthesis: A Scoping Review. ACS Synth Biol 2024; 13:2276-2294. [PMID: 39047143 PMCID: PMC11334239 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.4c00091] [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: 02/09/2024] [Revised: 06/14/2024] [Accepted: 06/14/2024] [Indexed: 07/27/2024]
Abstract
Retrosynthesis aims to efficiently plan the synthesis of desirable chemicals by strategically breaking down molecules into readily available building block compounds. Having a long history in chemistry, retro-biosynthesis has also been used in the fields of biocatalysis and synthetic biology. Artificial intelligence (AI) is driving us toward new frontiers in synthesis planning and the exploration of chemical spaces, arriving at an opportune moment for promoting bioproduction that would better align with green chemistry, enhancing environmental practices. In this review, we summarize the recent advancements in the application of AI methods and models for retrosynthetic and retro-biosynthetic pathway design. These techniques can be based either on reaction templates or generative models and require scoring functions and planning strategies to navigate through the retrosynthetic graph of possibilities. We finally discuss limitations and promising research directions in this field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillaume Gricourt
- Université
Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, Micalis
Institute, 78350 Jouy-en-Josas, France
| | - Philippe Meyer
- Université
Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, Micalis
Institute, 78350 Jouy-en-Josas, France
| | - Thomas Duigou
- Université
Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, Micalis
Institute, 78350 Jouy-en-Josas, France
| | - Jean-Loup Faulon
- Université
Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, Micalis
Institute, 78350 Jouy-en-Josas, France
- The
University of Manchester, Manchester Institute
of Biotechnology, Manchester M1 7DN, U.K.
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4
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Balzerani F, Blasco T, Pérez-Burillo S, Valcarcel LV, Hassoun S, Planes FJ. Extending PROXIMAL to predict degradation pathways of phenolic compounds in the human gut microbiota. NPJ Syst Biol Appl 2024; 10:56. [PMID: 38802371 PMCID: PMC11130242 DOI: 10.1038/s41540-024-00381-1] [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: 05/15/2023] [Accepted: 05/09/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Despite significant advances in reconstructing genome-scale metabolic networks, the understanding of cellular metabolism remains incomplete for many organisms. A promising approach for elucidating cellular metabolism is analysing the full scope of enzyme promiscuity, which exploits the capacity of enzymes to bind to non-annotated substrates and generate novel reactions. To guide time-consuming costly experimentation, different computational methods have been proposed for exploring enzyme promiscuity. One relevant algorithm is PROXIMAL, which strongly relies on KEGG to define generic reaction rules and link specific molecular substructures with associated chemical transformations. Here, we present a completely new pipeline, PROXIMAL2, which overcomes the dependency on KEGG data. In addition, PROXIMAL2 introduces two relevant improvements with respect to the former version: i) correct treatment of multi-step reactions and ii) tracking of electric charges in the transformations. We compare PROXIMAL and PROXIMAL2 in recovering annotated products from substrates in KEGG reactions, finding a highly significant improvement in the level of accuracy. We then applied PROXIMAL2 to predict degradation reactions of phenolic compounds in the human gut microbiota. The results were compared to RetroPath RL, a different and relevant enzyme promiscuity method. We found a significant overlap between these two methods but also complementary results, which open new research directions into this relevant question in nutrition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Balzerani
- University of Navarra, Tecnun School of Engineering, Manuel de Lardizábal 13, 20018, San Sebastián, Spain
| | - Telmo Blasco
- University of Navarra, Tecnun School of Engineering, Manuel de Lardizábal 13, 20018, San Sebastián, Spain
| | - Sergio Pérez-Burillo
- University of Navarra, Tecnun School of Engineering, Manuel de Lardizábal 13, 20018, San Sebastián, Spain
| | - Luis V Valcarcel
- University of Navarra, Tecnun School of Engineering, Manuel de Lardizábal 13, 20018, San Sebastián, Spain
- University of Navarra, Biomedical Engineering Center, Campus Universitario, 31009, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain
- University of Navarra, Instituto de Ciencia de los Datos e Inteligencia Artificial (DATAI), Campus Universitario, 31080, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Soha Hassoun
- Department of Computer Science, Tufts University, Medford, MA, 02155, USA.
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA, 02155, USA.
| | - Francisco J Planes
- University of Navarra, Tecnun School of Engineering, Manuel de Lardizábal 13, 20018, San Sebastián, Spain.
- University of Navarra, Biomedical Engineering Center, Campus Universitario, 31009, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain.
- University of Navarra, Instituto de Ciencia de los Datos e Inteligencia Artificial (DATAI), Campus Universitario, 31080, Pamplona, Spain.
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5
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Goldford JE, Smith HB, Longo LM, Wing BA, McGlynn SE. Primitive purine biosynthesis connects ancient geochemistry to modern metabolism. Nat Ecol Evol 2024; 8:999-1009. [PMID: 38519634 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-024-02361-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2022] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 03/25/2024]
Abstract
An unresolved question in the origin and evolution of life is whether a continuous path from geochemical precursors to the majority of molecules in the biosphere can be reconstructed from modern-day biochemistry. Here we identified a feasible path by simulating the evolution of biosphere-scale metabolism, using only known biochemical reactions and models of primitive coenzymes. We find that purine synthesis constitutes a bottleneck for metabolic expansion, which can be alleviated by non-autocatalytic phosphoryl coupling agents. Early phases of the expansion are enriched with enzymes that are metal dependent and structurally symmetric, supporting models of early biochemical evolution. This expansion trajectory suggests distinct hypotheses regarding the tempo, mode and timing of metabolic pathway evolution, including a late appearance of methane metabolisms and oxygenic photosynthesis consistent with the geochemical record. The concordance between biological and geological analyses suggests that this trajectory provides a plausible evolutionary history for the vast majority of core biochemistry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua E Goldford
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
- Physics of Living Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Seattle, WA, USA.
| | - Harrison B Smith
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Seattle, WA, USA
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Liam M Longo
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Seattle, WA, USA
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Boswell A Wing
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Shawn Erin McGlynn
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Seattle, WA, USA.
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan.
- Biofunctional Catalyst Research Team, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Wako, Japan.
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6
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Sokolova N, Peng B, Haslinger K. Design and engineering of artificial biosynthetic pathways-where do we stand and where do we go? FEBS Lett 2023; 597:2897-2907. [PMID: 37777818 DOI: 10.1002/1873-3468.14745] [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: 07/03/2023] [Revised: 08/29/2023] [Accepted: 09/12/2023] [Indexed: 10/02/2023]
Abstract
The production of commodity and specialty chemicals relies heavily on fossil fuels. The negative impact of this dependency on our environment and climate has spurred a rising demand for more sustainable methods to obtain such chemicals from renewable resources. Herein, biotransformations of these renewable resources facilitated by enzymes or (micro)organisms have gained significant attention, since they can occur under mild conditions and reduce waste. These biotransformations typically leverage natural metabolic processes, which limits the scope and production capacity of such processes. In this mini-review, we provide an overview of advancements made in the past 5 years to expand the repertoire of biotransformations in engineered microorganisms. This ranges from redesign of existing pathways driven by retrobiosynthesis and computational design to directed evolution of enzymes and de novo pathway design to unlock novel routes for the synthesis of desired chemicals. We highlight notable examples of pathway designs for the production of commodity and specialty chemicals, showcasing the potential of these approaches. Lastly, we provide an outlook on future pathway design approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nika Sokolova
- Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Biology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Bo Peng
- Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Biology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Kristina Haslinger
- Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Biology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
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7
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Prešern U, Goličnik M. Enzyme Databases in the Era of Omics and Artificial Intelligence. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:16918. [PMID: 38069254 PMCID: PMC10707154 DOI: 10.3390/ijms242316918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2023] [Revised: 11/24/2023] [Accepted: 11/26/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Enzyme research is important for the development of various scientific fields such as medicine and biotechnology. Enzyme databases facilitate this research by providing a wide range of information relevant to research planning and data analysis. Over the years, various databases that cover different aspects of enzyme biology (e.g., kinetic parameters, enzyme occurrence, and reaction mechanisms) have been developed. Most of the databases are curated manually, which improves reliability of the information; however, such curation cannot keep pace with the exponential growth in published data. Lack of data standardization is another obstacle for data extraction and analysis. Improving machine readability of databases is especially important in the light of recent advances in deep learning algorithms that require big training datasets. This review provides information regarding the current state of enzyme databases, especially in relation to the ever-increasing amount of generated research data and recent advancements in artificial intelligence algorithms. Furthermore, it describes several enzyme databases, providing the reader with necessary information for their use.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Marko Goličnik
- Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Vrazov trg 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia;
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8
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Zhong W, Li H, Wang Y. Design and Construction of Artificial Biological Systems for One-Carbon Utilization. BIODESIGN RESEARCH 2023; 5:0021. [PMID: 37915992 PMCID: PMC10616972 DOI: 10.34133/bdr.0021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2023] [Accepted: 10/05/2023] [Indexed: 11/03/2023] Open
Abstract
The third-generation (3G) biorefinery aims to use microbial cell factories or enzymatic systems to synthesize value-added chemicals from one-carbon (C1) sources, such as CO2, formate, and methanol, fueled by renewable energies like light and electricity. This promising technology represents an important step toward sustainable development, which can help address some of the most pressing environmental challenges faced by modern society. However, to establish processes competitive with the petroleum industry, it is crucial to determine the most viable pathways for C1 utilization and productivity and yield of the target products. In this review, we discuss the progresses that have been made in constructing artificial biological systems for 3G biorefineries in the last 10 years. Specifically, we highlight the representative works on the engineering of artificial autotrophic microorganisms, tandem enzymatic systems, and chemo-bio hybrid systems for C1 utilization. We also prospect the revolutionary impact of these developments on biotechnology. By harnessing the power of 3G biorefinery, scientists are establishing a new frontier that could potentially revolutionize our approach to industrial production and pave the way for a more sustainable future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Zhong
- Westlake Center of Synthetic Biology and Integrated Bioengineering, School of Engineering,
Westlake University, Hangzhou 310000, PR China
| | - Hailong Li
- Westlake Center of Synthetic Biology and Integrated Bioengineering, School of Engineering,
Westlake University, Hangzhou 310000, PR China
- School of Materials Science and Engineering,
Zhejiang University, Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310000, PR China
| | - Yajie Wang
- Westlake Center of Synthetic Biology and Integrated Bioengineering, School of Engineering,
Westlake University, Hangzhou 310000, PR China
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9
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Qiu S, Yang A, Zeng H. Flux balance analysis-based metabolic modeling of microbial secondary metabolism: Current status and outlook. PLoS Comput Biol 2023; 19:e1011391. [PMID: 37619239 PMCID: PMC10449171 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/26/2023] Open
Abstract
In microorganisms, different from primary metabolism for cellular growth, secondary metabolism is for ecological interactions and stress responses and an important source of natural products widely used in various areas such as pharmaceutics and food additives. With advancements of sequencing technologies and bioinformatics tools, a large number of biosynthetic gene clusters of secondary metabolites have been discovered from microbial genomes. However, due to challenges from the difficulty of genome-scale pathway reconstruction and the limitation of conventional flux balance analysis (FBA) on secondary metabolism, the quantitative modeling of secondary metabolism is poorly established, in contrast to that of primary metabolism. This review first discusses current efforts on the reconstruction of secondary metabolic pathways in genome-scale metabolic models (GSMMs), as well as related FBA-based modeling techniques. Additionally, potential extensions of FBA are suggested to improve the prediction accuracy of secondary metabolite production. As this review posits, biosynthetic pathway reconstruction for various secondary metabolites will become automated and a modeling framework capturing secondary metabolism onset will enhance the predictive power. Expectedly, an improved FBA-based modeling workflow will facilitate quantitative study of secondary metabolism and in silico design of engineering strategies for natural product production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sizhe Qiu
- School of Food and Health, Beijing Technology and Business University, Bejing, China
- Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Aidong Yang
- Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Hong Zeng
- School of Food and Health, Beijing Technology and Business University, Bejing, China
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10
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Butler ND, Sen S, Brown LB, Lin M, Kunjapur AM. A platform for distributed production of synthetic nitrated proteins in live bacteria. Nat Chem Biol 2023; 19:911-920. [PMID: 37188959 DOI: 10.1038/s41589-023-01338-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2022] [Accepted: 04/13/2023] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
The incorporation of the nonstandard amino acid para-nitro-L-phenylalanine (pN-Phe) within proteins has been used for diverse applications, including the termination of immune self-tolerance. However, the requirement for the provision of chemically synthesized pN-Phe to cells limits the contexts where this technology can be harnessed. Here we report the construction of a live bacterial producer of synthetic nitrated proteins by coupling metabolic engineering and genetic code expansion. We achieved the biosynthesis of pN-Phe in Escherichia coli by creating a pathway that features a previously uncharacterized nonheme diiron N-monooxygenase, which resulted in pN-Phe titers of 820 ± 130 µM after optimization. After we identified an orthogonal translation system that exhibited selectivity toward pN-Phe rather than a precursor metabolite, we constructed a single strain that incorporated biosynthesized pN-Phe within a specific site of a reporter protein. Overall, our study has created a foundational technology platform for distributed and autonomous production of nitrated proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Neil D Butler
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
| | - Sabyasachi Sen
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
| | - Lucas B Brown
- Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology Program, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Minwei Lin
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
| | - Aditya M Kunjapur
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA.
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11
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Yang D, Eun H, Prabowo CPS. Metabolic Engineering and Synthetic Biology Approaches for the Heterologous Production of Aromatic Polyketides. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:8923. [PMID: 37240269 PMCID: PMC10219323 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24108923] [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: 04/18/2023] [Revised: 05/12/2023] [Accepted: 05/15/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Polyketides are a diverse set of natural products with versatile applications as pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and cosmetics, to name a few. Of several types of polyketides, aromatic polyketides comprising type II and III polyketides contain many chemicals important for human health such as antibiotics and anticancer agents. Most aromatic polyketides are produced from soil bacteria or plants, which are difficult to engineer and grow slowly in industrial settings. To this end, metabolic engineering and synthetic biology have been employed to efficiently engineer heterologous model microorganisms for enhanced production of important aromatic polyketides. In this review, we discuss the recent advancement in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology strategies for the production of type II and type III polyketides in model microorganisms. Future challenges and prospects of aromatic polyketide biosynthesis by synthetic biology and enzyme engineering approaches are also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dongsoo Yang
- Synthetic Biology and Enzyme Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (BK21 Four), Korea University, Seoul 02481, Republic of Korea
| | - Hyunmin Eun
- Metabolic and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21 Four), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Cindy Pricilia Surya Prabowo
- Metabolic and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21 Four), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
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12
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Tan Z, Li J, Hou J, Gonzalez R. Designing artificial pathways for improving chemical production. Biotechnol Adv 2023; 64:108119. [PMID: 36764336 DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2023.108119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2022] [Revised: 02/01/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 02/11/2023]
Abstract
Metabolic engineering exploits manipulation of catalytic and regulatory elements to improve a specific function of the host cell, often the synthesis of interesting chemicals. Although naturally occurring pathways are significant resources for metabolic engineering, these pathways are frequently inefficient and suffer from a series of inherent drawbacks. Designing artificial pathways in a rational manner provides a promising alternative for chemicals production. However, the entry barrier of designing artificial pathway is relatively high, which requires researchers a comprehensive and deep understanding of physical, chemical and biological principles. On the other hand, the designed artificial pathways frequently suffer from low efficiencies, which impair their further applications in host cells. Here, we illustrate the concept and basic workflow of retrobiosynthesis in designing artificial pathways, as well as the most currently used methods including the knowledge- and computer-based approaches. Then, we discuss how to obtain desired enzymes for novel biochemistries, and how to trim the initially designed artificial pathways for further improving their functionalities. Finally, we summarize the current applications of artificial pathways from feedstocks utilization to various products synthesis, as well as our future perspectives on designing artificial pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zaigao Tan
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China; School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China; Department of Bioengineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
| | - Jian Li
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China; School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China; Department of Bioengineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Jin Hou
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao, China
| | - Ramon Gonzalez
- Department of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.
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13
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Shebek KM, Strutz J, Broadbelt LJ, Tyo KEJ. Pickaxe: a Python library for the prediction of novel metabolic reactions. BMC Bioinformatics 2023; 24:106. [PMID: 36949401 PMCID: PMC10031857 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-023-05149-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2022] [Accepted: 01/13/2023] [Indexed: 03/24/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Biochemical reaction prediction tools leverage enzymatic promiscuity rules to generate reaction networks containing novel compounds and reactions. The resulting reaction networks can be used for multiple applications such as designing novel biosynthetic pathways and annotating untargeted metabolomics data. It is vital for these tools to provide a robust, user-friendly method to generate networks for a given application. However, existing tools lack the flexibility to easily generate networks that are tailor-fit for a user's application due to lack of exhaustive reaction rules, restriction to pre-computed networks, and difficulty in using the software due to lack of documentation. RESULTS Here we present Pickaxe, an open-source, flexible software that provides a user-friendly method to generate novel reaction networks. This software iteratively applies reaction rules to a set of metabolites to generate novel reactions. Users can select rules from the prepackaged JN1224min ruleset, derived from MetaCyc, or define their own custom rules. Additionally, filters are provided which allow for the pruning of a network on-the-fly based on compound and reaction properties. The filters include chemical similarity to target molecules, metabolomics, thermodynamics, and reaction feasibility filters. Example applications are given to highlight the capabilities of Pickaxe: the expansion of common biological databases with novel reactions, the generation of industrially useful chemicals from a yeast metabolome database, and the annotation of untargeted metabolomics peaks from an E. coli dataset. CONCLUSION Pickaxe predicts novel metabolic reactions and compounds, which can be used for a variety of applications. This software is open-source and available as part of the MINE Database python package ( https://pypi.org/project/minedatabase/ ) or on GitHub ( https://github.com/tyo-nu/MINE-Database ). Documentation and examples can be found on Read the Docs ( https://mine-database.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ ). Through its documentation, pre-packaged features, and customizable nature, Pickaxe allows users to generate novel reaction networks tailored to their application.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin M Shebek
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
- Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
- Chemistry of Life Processes Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
| | - Jonathan Strutz
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
- Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
- Chemistry of Life Processes Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
| | - Linda J Broadbelt
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
- Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
| | - Keith E J Tyo
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA.
- Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA.
- Chemistry of Life Processes Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA.
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14
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Lim PK, Julca I, Mutwil M. Redesigning plant specialized metabolism with supervised machine learning using publicly available reactome data. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2023; 21:1639-1650. [PMID: 36874159 PMCID: PMC9976193 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2023.01.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2022] [Revised: 01/12/2023] [Accepted: 01/12/2023] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
The immense structural diversity of products and intermediates of plant specialized metabolism (specialized metabolites) makes them rich sources of therapeutic medicine, nutrients, and other useful materials. With the rapid accumulation of reactome data that can be accessible on biological and chemical databases, along with recent advances in machine learning, this review sets out to outline how supervised machine learning can be used to design new compounds and pathways by exploiting the wealth of said data. We will first examine the various sources from which reactome data can be obtained, followed by explaining the different machine learning encoding methods for reactome data. We then discuss current supervised machine learning developments that can be employed in various aspects to help redesign plant specialized metabolism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peng Ken Lim
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Irene Julca
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Marek Mutwil
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
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15
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Qin Y, Li Q, Fan L, Ning X, Wei X, You C. Biomanufacturing by In Vitro Biotransformation (ivBT) Using Purified Cascade Multi-enzymes. ADVANCES IN BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEERING/BIOTECHNOLOGY 2023; 186:1-27. [PMID: 37455283 DOI: 10.1007/10_2023_231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/18/2023]
Abstract
In vitro biotransformation (ivBT) refers to the use of an artificial biological reaction system that employs purified enzymes for the one-pot conversion of low-cost materials into biocommodities such as ethanol, organic acids, and amino acids. Unshackled from cell growth and metabolism, ivBT exhibits distinct advantages compared with metabolic engineering, including but not limited to high engineering flexibility, ease of operation, fast reaction rate, high product yields, and good scalability. These characteristics position ivBT as a promising next-generation biomanufacturing platform. Nevertheless, challenges persist in the enhancement of bulk enzyme preparation methods, the acquisition of enzymes with superior catalytic properties, and the development of sophisticated approaches for pathway design and system optimization. In alignment with the workflow of ivBT development, this chapter presents a systematic introduction to pathway design, enzyme mining and engineering, system construction, and system optimization. The chapter also proffers perspectives on ivBT development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanmei Qin
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- In Vitro Synthetic Biology Center, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China
| | - Qiangzi Li
- In Vitro Synthetic Biology Center, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China
| | - Lin Fan
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- In Vitro Synthetic Biology Center, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Sino-Danish College, Beijing, China
| | - Xiao Ning
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- In Vitro Synthetic Biology Center, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China
| | - Xinlei Wei
- In Vitro Synthetic Biology Center, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China.
- National Technology Innovation Center of Synthetic Biology, Tianjin, China.
| | - Chun You
- In Vitro Synthetic Biology Center, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China.
- National Technology Innovation Center of Synthetic Biology, Tianjin, China.
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16
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Sieow BFL, De Sotto R, Seet ZRD, Hwang IY, Chang MW. Synthetic Biology Meets Machine Learning. Methods Mol Biol 2023; 2553:21-39. [PMID: 36227537 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2617-7_2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
This chapter outlines the myriad applications of machine learning (ML) in synthetic biology, specifically in engineering cell and protein activity, and metabolic pathways. Though by no means comprehensive, the chapter highlights several prominent computational tools applied in the field and their potential use cases. The examples detailed reinforce how ML algorithms can enhance synthetic biology research by providing data-driven insights into the behavior of living systems, even without detailed knowledge of their underlying mechanisms. By doing so, ML promises to increase the efficiency of research projects by modeling hypotheses in silico that can then be tested through experiments. While challenges related to training dataset generation and computational costs remain, ongoing improvements in ML tools are paving the way for smarter and more streamlined synthetic biology workflows that can be readily employed to address grand challenges across manufacturing, medicine, engineering, agriculture, and beyond.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brendan Fu-Long Sieow
- NUS Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation (SynCTI), National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- Synthetic Biology Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering Programme, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Ryan De Sotto
- NUS Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation (SynCTI), National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- Synthetic Biology Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Zhi Ren Darren Seet
- NUS Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation (SynCTI), National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- Synthetic Biology Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - In Young Hwang
- NUS Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation (SynCTI), National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- Synthetic Biology Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Matthew Wook Chang
- NUS Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation (SynCTI), National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
- Synthetic Biology Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
- Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
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17
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Cho JS, Kim GB, Eun H, Moon CW, Lee SY. Designing Microbial Cell Factories for the Production of Chemicals. JACS AU 2022; 2:1781-1799. [PMID: 36032533 PMCID: PMC9400054 DOI: 10.1021/jacsau.2c00344] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2022] [Revised: 07/26/2022] [Accepted: 07/26/2022] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
The sustainable production of chemicals from renewable, nonedible biomass has emerged as an essential alternative to address pressing environmental issues arising from our heavy dependence on fossil resources. Microbial cell factories are engineered microorganisms harboring biosynthetic pathways streamlined to produce chemicals of interests from renewable carbon sources. The biosynthetic pathways for the production of chemicals can be defined into three categories with reference to the microbial host selected for engineering: native-existing pathways, nonnative-existing pathways, and nonnative-created pathways. Recent trends in leveraging native-existing pathways, discovering nonnative-existing pathways, and designing de novo pathways (as nonnative-created pathways) are discussed in this Perspective. We highlight key approaches and successful case studies that exemplify these concepts. Once these pathways are designed and constructed in the microbial cell factory, systems metabolic engineering strategies can be used to improve the performance of the strain to meet industrial production standards. In the second part of the Perspective, current trends in design tools and strategies for systems metabolic engineering are discussed with an eye toward the future. Finally, we survey current and future challenges that need to be addressed to advance microbial cell factories for the sustainable production of chemicals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jae Sung Cho
- Metabolic
and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory and Systems
Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative
Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21
four), Korea Advanced Institute of Science
and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
- KAIST
Institute for the BioCentury and KAIST Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
(KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
- BioProcess
Engineering Research Center and BioInformatics Research Center, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
(KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Gi Bae Kim
- Metabolic
and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory and Systems
Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative
Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21
four), Korea Advanced Institute of Science
and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
- KAIST
Institute for the BioCentury and KAIST Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
(KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Hyunmin Eun
- Metabolic
and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory and Systems
Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative
Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21
four), Korea Advanced Institute of Science
and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
- KAIST
Institute for the BioCentury and KAIST Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
(KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Cheon Woo Moon
- Metabolic
and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory and Systems
Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative
Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21
four), Korea Advanced Institute of Science
and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
- KAIST
Institute for the BioCentury and KAIST Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
(KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Sang Yup Lee
- Metabolic
and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory and Systems
Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative
Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21
four), Korea Advanced Institute of Science
and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
- KAIST
Institute for the BioCentury and KAIST Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
(KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
- BioProcess
Engineering Research Center and BioInformatics Research Center, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
(KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
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18
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Yang D, Eun H, Prabowo CPS, Cho S, Lee SY. Metabolic and cellular engineering for the production of natural products. Curr Opin Biotechnol 2022; 77:102760. [PMID: 35908315 DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2022.102760] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2022] [Revised: 06/14/2022] [Accepted: 06/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Increased awareness of the environmental and health concerns of consuming chemically synthesized products has led to a rising demand for natural products that are greener and more sustainable. Despite their importance, however, industrial-scale production of natural products has been challenging due to the low yield and high cost of the bioprocesses. To cope with this problem, systems metabolic engineering has been employed to efficiently produce natural products from renewable biomass. Here, we review the recent systems metabolic engineering strategies employed for enhanced production of value-added natural products, together with accompanying examples. Particular focus is set on systems-level engineering and cell physiology engineering strategies. Future perspectives are also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dongsoo Yang
- Metabolic and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory and Systems Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21 four), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea; KAIST Institute for the BioCentury and KAIST Institute for Artificial Intelligence, KAIST, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea; BioProcess Engineering Research Center and BioInformatics Research Center, KAIST, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea.
| | - Hyunmin Eun
- Metabolic and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory and Systems Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21 four), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea; KAIST Institute for the BioCentury and KAIST Institute for Artificial Intelligence, KAIST, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Cindy Pricilia Surya Prabowo
- Metabolic and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory and Systems Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21 four), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea; KAIST Institute for the BioCentury and KAIST Institute for Artificial Intelligence, KAIST, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Sumin Cho
- Metabolic and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory and Systems Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21 four), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea; KAIST Institute for the BioCentury and KAIST Institute for Artificial Intelligence, KAIST, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Sang Yup Lee
- Metabolic and Biomolecular Engineering National Research Laboratory and Systems Metabolic Engineering and Systems Healthcare Cross-Generation Collaborative Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (BK21 four), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea; KAIST Institute for the BioCentury and KAIST Institute for Artificial Intelligence, KAIST, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea; BioProcess Engineering Research Center and BioInformatics Research Center, KAIST, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea.
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19
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Xu Z, Mahadevan R. Efficient Enumeration of Branched Novel Biochemical Pathways Using a Probabilistic Technique. Ind Eng Chem Res 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.1c02211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Zhiqing Xu
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E5, Canada
| | - Radhakrishnan Mahadevan
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E5, Canada
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G9, Canada
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20
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Bourgade B, Humphreys CM, Millard J, Minton NP, Islam MA. Design, Analysis, and Implementation of a Novel Biochemical Pathway for Ethylene Glycol Production in Clostridium autoethanogenum. ACS Synth Biol 2022; 11:1790-1800. [PMID: 35543716 PMCID: PMC9127970 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.1c00624] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
![]()
The platform chemical
ethylene glycol (EG) is used to manufacture
various commodity chemicals of industrial importance, but largely
remains synthesized from fossil fuels. Although several novel metabolic
pathways have been reported for its bioproduction in model organisms,
none has been reported for gas-fermenting, non-model acetogenic chassis
organisms. Here, we describe a novel, synthetic biochemical pathway
to convert acetate into EG in the industrially important gas-fermenting
acetogen,Clostridium autoethanogenum. We not only developed a computational workflow to design and analyze
hundreds of novel biochemical pathways for EG production but also
demonstrated a successful pathway construction in the chosen host.
The EG production was achieved using a two-plasmid system to bypass
unfeasible expression levels and potential toxic enzymatic interactions.
Although only a yield of 0.029 g EG/g fructose was achieved and therefore
requiring further strain engineering efforts to optimize the designed
strain, this work demonstrates an important proof-of-concept approach
to computationally design and experimentally implement fully synthetic
metabolic pathways in a metabolically highly specific, non-model host
organism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Bourgade
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, U.K
| | - Christopher M. Humphreys
- BBSRC/EPSRC Synthetic Biology Research Centre, Biodiscovery Institute, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, U.K
| | - James Millard
- BBSRC/EPSRC Synthetic Biology Research Centre, Biodiscovery Institute, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, U.K
| | - Nigel P. Minton
- BBSRC/EPSRC Synthetic Biology Research Centre, Biodiscovery Institute, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, U.K
| | - M. Ahsanul Islam
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, U.K
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21
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Research Progress on the Synthetic Biology of Botanical Biopesticides. Bioengineering (Basel) 2022; 9:bioengineering9050207. [PMID: 35621485 PMCID: PMC9137473 DOI: 10.3390/bioengineering9050207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2022] [Revised: 05/06/2022] [Accepted: 05/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The production and large-scale application of traditional chemical pesticides will bring environmental pollution and food safety problems. With the advantages of high safety and environmental friendliness, botanical biopesticides are in line with the development trend of modern agriculture and have gradually become the mainstream of modern pesticide development. However, the traditional production of botanical biopesticides has long been faced with prominent problems, such as limited source and supply, complicated production processes, and excessive consumption of resources. In recent years, the rapid development of synthetic biology will break through these bottlenecks, and many botanical biopesticides are produced using synthetic biology, such as emodin, celangulin, etc. This paper reviews the latest progress and application prospect of synthetic biology in the development of botanical pesticides so as to provide new ideas for the analysis of synthetic pathways and heterologous and efficient production of botanical biopesticides and accelerate the research process of synthetic biology of natural products.
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22
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Maithani D, Sharma A, Gangola S, Choudhary P, Bhatt P. Insights into applications and strategies for discovery of microbial bioactive metabolites. Microbiol Res 2022; 261:127053. [DOI: 10.1016/j.micres.2022.127053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2021] [Revised: 03/12/2022] [Accepted: 04/26/2022] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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23
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Sveshnikova A, MohammadiPeyhani H, Hatzimanikatis V. Computational tools and resources for designing new pathways to small molecules. Curr Opin Biotechnol 2022; 76:102722. [PMID: 35483185 DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2022.102722] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2021] [Revised: 03/04/2022] [Accepted: 03/22/2022] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
The metabolic engineering community relies on computational methods for pathway design to produce important small molecules in microbial hosts. Metabolic network databases are continuously curated and updated with known and novel reactions that expand the known biochemistry based on different sets of enzymatic reaction rules. To address the complexity of the metabolic networks, elaborate methods were developed to transform them into computable graphs, navigate them, and construct the best possible pathways. However, the recent experimental research points to the new challenges and opportunities for the computational pathway design. Here, we review the most recent advances, especially in the last two years, in computational discovery of new pathways and their prospects for expanding metabolic capabilities. We draw attention to the potential ways of improvement for pathway design algorithms, including the expansion of Design-Build-Test-Learn cycle to novel compounds and reactions and the standardization for the reaction rules and metabolic reaction databases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anastasia Sveshnikova
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Homa MohammadiPeyhani
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Vassily Hatzimanikatis
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland.
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24
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Vasina M, Velecký J, Planas-Iglesias J, Marques SM, Skarupova J, Damborsky J, Bednar D, Mazurenko S, Prokop Z. Tools for computational design and high-throughput screening of therapeutic enzymes. Adv Drug Deliv Rev 2022; 183:114143. [PMID: 35167900 DOI: 10.1016/j.addr.2022.114143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/26/2021] [Revised: 02/04/2022] [Accepted: 02/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Therapeutic enzymes are valuable biopharmaceuticals in various biomedical applications. They have been successfully applied for fibrinolysis, cancer treatment, enzyme replacement therapies, and the treatment of rare diseases. Still, there is a permanent demand to find new or better therapeutic enzymes, which would be sufficiently soluble, stable, and active to meet specific medical needs. Here, we highlight the benefits of coupling computational approaches with high-throughput experimental technologies, which significantly accelerate the identification and engineering of catalytic therapeutic agents. New enzymes can be identified in genomic and metagenomic databases, which grow thanks to next-generation sequencing technologies exponentially. Computational design and machine learning methods are being developed to improve catalytically potent enzymes and predict their properties to guide the selection of target enzymes. High-throughput experimental pipelines, increasingly relying on microfluidics, ensure functional screening and biochemical characterization of target enzymes to reach efficient therapeutic enzymes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michal Vasina
- Loschmidt Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic; Loschmidt Laboratories, RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic; International Clinical Research Centre, St. Anne's University Hospital, Pekarska 53, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Jan Velecký
- Loschmidt Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic; Loschmidt Laboratories, RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Joan Planas-Iglesias
- Loschmidt Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic; Loschmidt Laboratories, RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic; International Clinical Research Centre, St. Anne's University Hospital, Pekarska 53, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Sergio M Marques
- Loschmidt Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic; Loschmidt Laboratories, RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic; International Clinical Research Centre, St. Anne's University Hospital, Pekarska 53, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Jana Skarupova
- Loschmidt Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic; Loschmidt Laboratories, RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Jiri Damborsky
- Loschmidt Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic; Loschmidt Laboratories, RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic; International Clinical Research Centre, St. Anne's University Hospital, Pekarska 53, Brno, Czech Republic; Enantis, INBIT, Kamenice 34, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - David Bednar
- Loschmidt Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic; Loschmidt Laboratories, RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic; International Clinical Research Centre, St. Anne's University Hospital, Pekarska 53, Brno, Czech Republic.
| | - Stanislav Mazurenko
- Loschmidt Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic; Loschmidt Laboratories, RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic; International Clinical Research Centre, St. Anne's University Hospital, Pekarska 53, Brno, Czech Republic.
| | - Zbynek Prokop
- Loschmidt Laboratories, Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic; Loschmidt Laboratories, RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic; International Clinical Research Centre, St. Anne's University Hospital, Pekarska 53, Brno, Czech Republic.
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25
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ARBRE: Computational resource to predict pathways towards industrially important aromatic compounds. Metab Eng 2022; 72:259-274. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ymben.2022.03.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2021] [Revised: 03/15/2022] [Accepted: 03/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
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26
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Expanding biochemical knowledge and illuminating metabolic dark matter with ATLASx. Nat Commun 2022; 13:1560. [PMID: 35322036 PMCID: PMC8943196 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29238-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2021] [Accepted: 03/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Metabolic “dark matter” describes currently unknown metabolic processes, which form a blind spot in our general understanding of metabolism and slow down the development of biosynthetic cell factories and naturally derived pharmaceuticals. Mapping the dark matter of metabolism remains an open challenge that can be addressed globally and systematically by existing computational solutions. In this work, we use 489 generalized enzymatic reaction rules to map both known and unknown metabolic processes around a biochemical database of 1.5 million biological compounds. We predict over 5 million reactions and integrate nearly 2 million naturally and synthetically-derived compounds into the global network of biochemical knowledge, named ATLASx. ATLASx is available to researchers as a powerful online platform that supports the prediction and analysis of biochemical pathways and evaluates the biochemical vicinity of molecule classes (https://lcsb-databases.epfl.ch/Atlas2). “Mapping the dark matter of metabolism remains an open challenge that can be addressed globally and systematically by existing computational solutions. Here the authors present ATLASx, a repository of known and predicted enzymatic reaction, connecting millions of compounds to help synthetic biologists and metabolic engineers to design and explore metabolic pathways.”
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27
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Amara A, Frainay C, Jourdan F, Naake T, Neumann S, Novoa-del-Toro EM, Salek RM, Salzer L, Scharfenberg S, Witting M. Networks and Graphs Discovery in Metabolomics Data Analysis and Interpretation. Front Mol Biosci 2022; 9:841373. [PMID: 35350714 PMCID: PMC8957799 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2022.841373] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2021] [Accepted: 02/18/2022] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Both targeted and untargeted mass spectrometry-based metabolomics approaches are used to understand the metabolic processes taking place in various organisms, from prokaryotes, plants, fungi to animals and humans. Untargeted approaches allow to detect as many metabolites as possible at once, identify unexpected metabolic changes, and characterize novel metabolites in biological samples. However, the identification of metabolites and the biological interpretation of such large and complex datasets remain challenging. One approach to address these challenges is considering that metabolites are connected through informative relationships. Such relationships can be formalized as networks, where the nodes correspond to the metabolites or features (when there is no or only partial identification), and edges connect nodes if the corresponding metabolites are related. Several networks can be built from a single dataset (or a list of metabolites), where each network represents different relationships, such as statistical (correlated metabolites), biochemical (known or putative substrates and products of reactions), or chemical (structural similarities, ontological relations). Once these networks are built, they can subsequently be mined using algorithms from network (or graph) theory to gain insights into metabolism. For instance, we can connect metabolites based on prior knowledge on enzymatic reactions, then provide suggestions for potential metabolite identifications, or detect clusters of co-regulated metabolites. In this review, we first aim at settling a nomenclature and formalism to avoid confusion when referring to different networks used in the field of metabolomics. Then, we present the state of the art of network-based methods for mass spectrometry-based metabolomics data analysis, as well as future developments expected in this area. We cover the use of networks applications using biochemical reactions, mass spectrometry features, chemical structural similarities, and correlations between metabolites. We also describe the application of knowledge networks such as metabolic reaction networks. Finally, we discuss the possibility of combining different networks to analyze and interpret them simultaneously.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam Amara
- Section of Nutrition and Metabolism, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), Lyon, France
| | - Clément Frainay
- Toxalim (Research Centre in Food Toxicology), Université de Toulouse, INRAE, ENVT, INP-Purpan, UPS, Toulouse, France
| | - Fabien Jourdan
- Toxalim (Research Centre in Food Toxicology), Université de Toulouse, INRAE, ENVT, INP-Purpan, UPS, Toulouse, France
- MetaboHUB-Metatoul, National Infrastructure of Metabolomics and Fluxomics, Toulouse, France
| | - Thomas Naake
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Genome Biology Unit, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Steffen Neumann
- Bioinformatics and Scientific Data, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Halle (Saale), Germany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Elva María Novoa-del-Toro
- Toxalim (Research Centre in Food Toxicology), Université de Toulouse, INRAE, ENVT, INP-Purpan, UPS, Toulouse, France
| | | | - Liesa Salzer
- Research Unit Analytical BioGeoChemistry, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany
| | - Sarah Scharfenberg
- Bioinformatics and Scientific Data, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Michael Witting
- Metabolomics and Proteomics Core, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany
- Chair of Analytical Food Chemistry, TUM School of Life Sciences, Freising, Germany
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Probst D, Manica M, Nana Teukam YG, Castrogiovanni A, Paratore F, Laino T. Biocatalysed synthesis planning using data-driven learning. Nat Commun 2022; 13:964. [PMID: 35181654 PMCID: PMC8857209 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28536-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2021] [Accepted: 01/25/2022] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Enzyme catalysts are an integral part of green chemistry strategies towards a more sustainable and resource-efficient chemical synthesis. However, the use of biocatalysed reactions in retrosynthetic planning clashes with the difficulties in predicting the enzymatic activity on unreported substrates and enzyme-specific stereo- and regioselectivity. As of now, only rule-based systems support retrosynthetic planning using biocatalysis, while initial data-driven approaches are limited to forward predictions. Here, we extend the data-driven forward reaction as well as retrosynthetic pathway prediction models based on the Molecular Transformer architecture to biocatalysis. The enzymatic knowledge is learned from an extensive data set of publicly available biochemical reactions with the aid of a new class token scheme based on the enzyme commission classification number, which captures catalysis patterns among different enzymes belonging to the same hierarchy. The forward reaction prediction model (top-1 accuracy of 49.6%), the retrosynthetic pathway (top-1 single-step round-trip accuracy of 39.6%) and the curated data set are made publicly available to facilitate the adoption of enzymatic catalysis in the design of greener chemistry processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Probst
- IBM Research Europe, CH-8803, Rüschlikon, Switzerland.
- National Center for Competence in Research-Catalysis (NCCR-Catalysis), Rüschlikon, Switzerland.
| | - Matteo Manica
- IBM Research Europe, CH-8803, Rüschlikon, Switzerland
| | | | - Alessandro Castrogiovanni
- IBM Research Europe, CH-8803, Rüschlikon, Switzerland
- National Center for Competence in Research-Catalysis (NCCR-Catalysis), Rüschlikon, Switzerland
| | | | - Teodoro Laino
- IBM Research Europe, CH-8803, Rüschlikon, Switzerland
- National Center for Competence in Research-Catalysis (NCCR-Catalysis), Rüschlikon, Switzerland
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29
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Liu J, Liu J, Guo L, Liu J, Chen X, Liu L, Gao C. Advances in microbial synthesis of bioplastic monomers. ADVANCES IN APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY 2022; 119:35-81. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.aambs.2022.05.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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30
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Vila-Santa A, Mendes FC, Ferreira FC, Prather KLJ, Mira NP. Implementation of Synthetic Pathways to Foster Microbe-Based Production of Non-Naturally Occurring Carboxylic Acids and Derivatives. J Fungi (Basel) 2021; 7:jof7121020. [PMID: 34947002 PMCID: PMC8706239 DOI: 10.3390/jof7121020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2021] [Revised: 11/15/2021] [Accepted: 11/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Microbially produced carboxylic acids (CAs) are considered key players in the implementation of more sustainable industrial processes due to their potential to replace a set of oil-derived commodity chemicals. Most CAs are intermediates of microbial central carbon metabolism, and therefore, a biochemical production pathway is described and can be transferred to a host of choice to enable/improve production at an industrial scale. However, for some CAs, the implementation of this approach is difficult, either because they do not occur naturally (as is the case for levulinic acid) or because the described production pathway cannot be easily ported (as it is the case for adipic, muconic or glucaric acids). Synthetic biology has been reshaping the range of molecules that can be produced by microbial cells by setting new-to-nature pathways that leverage on enzyme arrangements not observed in vivo, often in association with the use of substrates that are not enzymes’ natural ones. In this review, we provide an overview of how the establishment of synthetic pathways, assisted by computational tools for metabolic retrobiosynthesis, has been applied to the field of CA production. The translation of these efforts in bridging the gap between the synthesis of CAs and of their more interesting derivatives, often themselves non-naturally occurring molecules, is also reviewed using as case studies the production of methacrylic, methylmethacrylic and poly-lactic acids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Vila-Santa
- Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Department of Bioengineering, University of Lisbon, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal; (A.V.-S.); (F.C.M.); (F.C.F.)
- Associate Laboratory i4HB—Institute for Health and Bioeconomy at Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Fernão C. Mendes
- Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Department of Bioengineering, University of Lisbon, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal; (A.V.-S.); (F.C.M.); (F.C.F.)
- Associate Laboratory i4HB—Institute for Health and Bioeconomy at Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Frederico C. Ferreira
- Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Department of Bioengineering, University of Lisbon, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal; (A.V.-S.); (F.C.M.); (F.C.F.)
- Associate Laboratory i4HB—Institute for Health and Bioeconomy at Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Kristala L. J. Prather
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA;
| | - Nuno P. Mira
- Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Department of Bioengineering, University of Lisbon, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal; (A.V.-S.); (F.C.M.); (F.C.F.)
- Associate Laboratory i4HB—Institute for Health and Bioeconomy at Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
- Correspondence:
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31
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Beber ME, Gollub MG, Mozaffari D, Shebek KM, Flamholz AI, Milo R, Noor E. eQuilibrator 3.0: a database solution for thermodynamic constant estimation. Nucleic Acids Res 2021; 50:D603-D609. [PMID: 34850162 PMCID: PMC8728285 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkab1106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2021] [Revised: 10/16/2021] [Accepted: 10/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
eQuilibrator (equilibrator.weizmann.ac.il) is a database of biochemical equilibrium constants and Gibbs free energies, originally designed as a web-based interface. While the website now counts around 1,000 distinct monthly users, its design could not accommodate larger compound databases and it lacked a scalable Application Programming Interface (API) for integration into other tools developed by the systems biology community. Here, we report on the recent updates to the database as well as the addition of a new Python-based interface to eQuilibrator that adds many new features such as a 100-fold larger compound database, the ability to add novel compounds, improvements in speed and memory use, and correction for Mg2+ ion concentrations. Moreover, the new interface can compute the covariance matrix of the uncertainty between estimates, for which we show the advantages and describe the application in metabolic modelling. We foresee that these improvements will make thermodynamic modelling more accessible and facilitate the integration of eQuilibrator into other software platforms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Moritz E Beber
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.,Unseen Biometrics ApS, Fruebjergvej 3, 2100 København Ø, Denmark
| | - Mattia G Gollub
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering and SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, ETH Zürich, Basel 4058, Switzerland
| | - Dana Mozaffari
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering and SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, ETH Zürich, Basel 4058, Switzerland.,Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, EPFL, Lausanne 1015, Switzerland
| | - Kevin M Shebek
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chemistry of Life Processes Institute, and Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
| | - Avi I Flamholz
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Ron Milo
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Herzl 234, Rehovot 7610001, Israel
| | - Elad Noor
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Herzl 234, Rehovot 7610001, Israel
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MetaClass, a Comprehensive Classification System for Predicting the Occurrence of Metabolic Reactions Based on the MetaQSAR Database. Molecules 2021; 26:molecules26195857. [PMID: 34641400 PMCID: PMC8512547 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26195857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2021] [Revised: 09/20/2021] [Accepted: 09/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
(1) Background: Machine learning algorithms are finding fruitful applications in predicting the ADME profile of new molecules, with a particular focus on metabolism predictions. However, the development of comprehensive metabolism predictors is hampered by the lack of highly accurate metabolic resources. Hence, we recently proposed a manually curated metabolic database (MetaQSAR), the level of accuracy of which is well suited to the development of predictive models. (2) Methods: MetaQSAR was used to extract datasets to predict the metabolic reactions subdivided into major classes, classes and subclasses. The collected datasets comprised a total of 3788 first-generation metabolic reactions. Predictive models were developed by using standard random forest algorithms and sets of physicochemical, stereo-electronic and constitutional descriptors. (3) Results: The developed models showed satisfactory performance, especially for hydrolyses and conjugations, while redox reactions were predicted with greater difficulty, which was reasonable as they depend on many complex features that are not properly encoded by the included descriptors. (4) Conclusions: The generated models allowed a precise comparison of the propensity of each metabolic reaction to be predicted and the factors affecting their predictability were discussed in detail. Overall, the study led to the development of a freely downloadable global predictor, MetaClass, which correctly predicts 80% of the reported reactions, as assessed by an explorative validation analysis on an external dataset, with an overall MCC = 0.44.
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33
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Cai T, Sun H, Qiao J, Zhu L, Zhang F, Zhang J, Tang Z, Wei X, Yang J, Yuan Q, Wang W, Yang X, Chu H, Wang Q, You C, Ma H, Sun Y, Li Y, Li C, Jiang H, Wang Q, Ma Y. Cell-free chemoenzymatic starch synthesis from carbon dioxide. Science 2021; 373:1523-1527. [PMID: 34554807 DOI: 10.1126/science.abh4049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 180] [Impact Index Per Article: 60.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
[Figure: see text].
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Affiliation(s)
- Tao Cai
- Department of Strategic and Integrative Research, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China.,National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308, China
| | - Hongbing Sun
- Department of Strategic and Integrative Research, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China.,National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308, China
| | - Jing Qiao
- Department of Strategic and Integrative Research, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China.,National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308, China
| | - Leilei Zhu
- National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308, China.,National Engineering Laboratory for Industrial Enzymes, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China
| | - Fan Zhang
- Department of Strategic and Integrative Research, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China.,National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308, China
| | - Jie Zhang
- National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308, China.,National Engineering Laboratory for Industrial Enzymes, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China
| | - Zijing Tang
- National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308, China.,National Engineering Laboratory for Industrial Enzymes, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China
| | - Xinlei Wei
- National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308, China.,National Engineering Laboratory for Industrial Enzymes, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China
| | - Jiangang Yang
- National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308, China.,National Engineering Laboratory for Industrial Enzymes, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China
| | - Qianqian Yuan
- National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308, China.,CAS Key Laboratory of Systems Microbial Biotechnology, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China
| | - Wangyin Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
| | - Xue Yang
- National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308, China.,CAS Key Laboratory of Systems Microbial Biotechnology, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China
| | - Huanyu Chu
- National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308, China.,CAS Key Laboratory of Systems Microbial Biotechnology, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China
| | - Qian Wang
- National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308, China.,CAS Key Laboratory of Systems Microbial Biotechnology, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China
| | - Chun You
- National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308, China.,National Engineering Laboratory for Industrial Enzymes, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China
| | - Hongwu Ma
- National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308, China.,CAS Key Laboratory of Systems Microbial Biotechnology, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China
| | - Yuanxia Sun
- National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308, China.,National Engineering Laboratory for Industrial Enzymes, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China
| | - Yin Li
- Department of Strategic and Integrative Research, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China.,National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308, China
| | - Can Li
- State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
| | - Huifeng Jiang
- National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308, China.,CAS Key Laboratory of Systems Microbial Biotechnology, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China
| | - Qinhong Wang
- Department of Strategic and Integrative Research, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China.,National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308, China.,CAS Key Laboratory of Systems Microbial Biotechnology, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China
| | - Yanhe Ma
- Department of Strategic and Integrative Research, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China.,National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308, China.,National Engineering Laboratory for Industrial Enzymes, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China
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34
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Recent advances in biocatalysis of nitrogen-containing heterocycles. Biotechnol Adv 2021; 54:107813. [PMID: 34450199 DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2021.107813] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2021] [Revised: 07/27/2021] [Accepted: 08/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Nitrogen-containing heterocycles (N-heterocycles) are ubiquitous in both organisms and pharmaceutical products. Biocatalysts are providing green approaches for synthesizing various N-heterocycles under mild reaction conditions. This review summarizes the recent advances in the biocatalysis of N-heterocycles through the discovery and engineering of natural N-heterocycle synthetic pathway, and the design of artificial synthetic routes, with an emphasis on biocatalysts applied in retrosynthetic design for preparing complex N-heterocycles. Furthermore, this review discusses the future prospects and challenges of biocatalysts involved in the synthesis of N-heterocycles.
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MohammadiPeyhani H, Chiappino-Pepe A, Haddadi K, Hafner J, Hadadi N, Hatzimanikatis V. NICEdrug.ch, a workflow for rational drug design and systems-level analysis of drug metabolism. eLife 2021; 10:e65543. [PMID: 34340747 PMCID: PMC8331181 DOI: 10.7554/elife.65543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2020] [Accepted: 07/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The discovery of a drug requires over a decade of intensive research and financial investments - and still has a high risk of failure. To reduce this burden, we developed the NICEdrug.ch resource, which incorporates 250,000 bioactive molecules, and studied their enzymatic metabolic targets, fate, and toxicity. NICEdrug.ch includes a unique fingerprint that identifies reactive similarities between drug-drug and drug-metabolite pairs. We validated the application, scope, and performance of NICEdrug.ch over similar methods in the field on golden standard datasets describing drugs and metabolites sharing reactivity, drug toxicities, and drug targets. We use NICEdrug.ch to evaluate inhibition and toxicity by the anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil, and suggest avenues to alleviate its side effects. We propose shikimate 3-phosphate for targeting liver-stage malaria with minimal impact on the human host cell. Finally, NICEdrug.ch suggests over 1300 candidate drugs and food molecules to target COVID-19 and explains their inhibitory mechanism for further experimental screening. The NICEdrug.ch database is accessible online to systematically identify the reactivity of small molecules and druggable enzymes with practical applications in lead discovery and drug repurposing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Homa MohammadiPeyhani
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFLLausanneSwitzerland
| | - Anush Chiappino-Pepe
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFLLausanneSwitzerland
| | - Kiandokht Haddadi
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFLLausanneSwitzerland
| | - Jasmin Hafner
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFLLausanneSwitzerland
| | - Noushin Hadadi
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFLLausanneSwitzerland
| | - Vassily Hatzimanikatis
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFLLausanneSwitzerland
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36
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37
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Jin H, Moseley HNB. Hierarchical Harmonization of Atom-Resolved Metabolic Reactions across Metabolic Databases. Metabolites 2021; 11:metabo11070431. [PMID: 34209357 PMCID: PMC8307411 DOI: 10.3390/metabo11070431] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2021] [Revised: 06/26/2021] [Accepted: 06/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Metabolic models have been proven to be useful tools in system biology and have been successfully applied to various research fields in a wide range of organisms. A relatively complete metabolic network is a prerequisite for deriving reliable metabolic models. The first step in constructing metabolic network is to harmonize compounds and reactions across different metabolic databases. However, effectively integrating data from various sources still remains a big challenge. Incomplete and inconsistent atomistic details in compound representations across databases is a very important limiting factor. Here, we optimized a subgraph isomorphism detection algorithm to validate generic compound pairs. Moreover, we defined a set of harmonization relationship types between compounds to deal with inconsistent chemical details while successfully capturing atom-level characteristics, enabling a more complete enabling compound harmonization across metabolic databases. In total, 15,704 compound pairs across KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) and MetaCyc databases were detected. Furthermore, utilizing the classification of compound pairs and EC (Enzyme Commission) numbers of reactions, we established hierarchical relationships between metabolic reactions, enabling the harmonization of 3856 reaction pairs. In addition, we created and used atom-specific identifiers to evaluate the consistency of atom mappings within and between harmonized reactions, detecting some consistency issues between the reaction and compound descriptions in these metabolic databases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huan Jin
- Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA;
| | - Hunter N. B. Moseley
- Department of Molecular & Cellular Biochemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA
- Markey Cancer Center, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA
- Superfund Research Center, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA
- Institute for Biomedical Informatics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +1-859-218-2964
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39
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Mao Y, Yuan Q, Yang X, Liu P, Cheng Y, Luo J, Liu H, Yao Y, Sun H, Cai T, Ma H. Non-natural Aldol Reactions Enable the Design and Construction of Novel One-Carbon Assimilation Pathways in vitro. Front Microbiol 2021; 12:677596. [PMID: 34149668 PMCID: PMC8208507 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.677596] [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: 03/08/2021] [Accepted: 05/04/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Methylotrophs utilizes cheap, abundant one-carbon compounds, offering a promising green, sustainable and economical alternative to current sugar-based biomanufacturing. However, natural one-carbon assimilation pathways come with many disadvantages, such as complicated reaction steps, the need for additional energy and/or reducing power, or loss of CO2, resulting in unsatisfactory biomanufacturing performance. Here, we predicted eight simple, novel and carbon-conserving formaldehyde (FALD) assimilation pathways based on the extended metabolic network with non-natural aldol reactions using the comb-flux balance analysis (FBA) algorithm. Three of these pathways were found to be independent of energy/reducing equivalents, and thus chosen for further experimental verification. Then, two novel aldol reactions, condensing D-erythrose 4-phosphate and glycolaldehyde (GALD) into 2R,3R-stereo allose 6-phosphate by DeoC or 2S,3R-stereo altrose 6-phosphate by TalBF178Y/Fsa, were identified for the first time. Finally, a novel FALD assimilation pathway proceeding via allose 6-phosphate, named as the glycolaldehyde-allose 6-phosphate assimilation (GAPA) pathway, was constructed in vitro with a high carbon yield of 94%. This work provides an elegant paradigm for systematic design of one-carbon assimilation pathways based on artificial aldolase (ALS) reactions, which could also be feasibly adapted for the mining of other metabolic pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yufeng Mao
- Biodesign Center, Key Laboratory of Systems Microbial Biotechnology, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China.,Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China
| | - Qianqian Yuan
- Biodesign Center, Key Laboratory of Systems Microbial Biotechnology, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China.,Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China
| | - Xue Yang
- Biodesign Center, Key Laboratory of Systems Microbial Biotechnology, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China.,Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China
| | - Pi Liu
- Biodesign Center, Key Laboratory of Systems Microbial Biotechnology, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China.,Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China
| | - Ying Cheng
- State Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, China
| | - Jiahao Luo
- Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering (Ministry of Education), SynBio Research Platform, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
| | - Huanhuan Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, China
| | - Yonghong Yao
- Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China
| | - Hongbing Sun
- Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China
| | - Tao Cai
- Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China
| | - Hongwu Ma
- Biodesign Center, Key Laboratory of Systems Microbial Biotechnology, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China.,Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China
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40
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Diéguez-Santana K, Casañola-Martin GM, Green JR, Rasulev B, González-Díaz H. Predicting Metabolic Reaction Networks with Perturbation-Theory Machine Learning (PTML) Models. Curr Top Med Chem 2021; 21:819-827. [PMID: 33797370 DOI: 10.2174/1568026621666210331161144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2020] [Revised: 12/30/2020] [Accepted: 01/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Checking the connectivity (structure) of complex Metabolic Reaction Networks (MRNs) models proposed for new microorganisms with promising properties is an important goal for chemical biology. OBJECTIVE In principle, we can perform a hand-on checking (Manual Curation). However, this is a challenging task due to the high number of combinations of pairs of nodes (possible metabolic reactions). RESULTS The CPTML linear model obtained using the LDA algorithm is able to discriminate nodes (metabolites) with the correct assignation of reactions from incorrect nodes with values of accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity in the range of 85-100% in both training and external validation data series. METHODS In this work, we used Combinatorial Perturbation Theory and Machine Learning techniques to seek a CPTML model for MRNs >40 organisms compiled by Barabasis' group. First, we quantified the local structure of a very large set of nodes in each MRN using a new class of node index called Markov linear indices fk. Next, we calculated CPT operators for 150000 combinations of query and reference nodes of MRNs. Last, we used these CPT operators as inputs of different ML algorithms. CONCLUSION Meanwhile, PTML models based on Bayesian network, J48-Decision Tree and Random Forest algorithms were identified as the three best non-linear models with accuracy greater than 97.5%. The present work opens the door to the study of MRNs of multiple organisms using PTML models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karel Diéguez-Santana
- Department of Organic and Inorganic Chemistry, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, and Basque Center for Biophysics CSIC-UPV/EHU, Leioa 48940, Great Bilbao, Biscay, Basque Country, Spain
| | | | - James R Green
- Department of Systems and Computer Engineering, Carleton University, K1S 5B6, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Bakhtiyor Rasulev
- Department of Coatings and Polymeric Materials, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102, United States
| | - Humberto González-Díaz
- Department of Organic and Inorganic Chemistry, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, and Basque Center for Biophysics CSIC-UPV/EHU, Leioa 48940, Great Bilbao, Biscay, Basque Country, Spain
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41
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Hafner J, Hatzimanikatis V. Finding metabolic pathways in large networks through atom-conserving substrate-product pairs. Bioinformatics 2021; 37:3560-3568. [PMID: 34003971 PMCID: PMC8545321 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btab368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Revised: 03/22/2021] [Accepted: 05/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Motivation Finding biosynthetic pathways is essential for metabolic engineering of organisms to produce chemicals, biodegradation prediction of pollutants and drugs, and for the elucidation of bioproduction pathways of secondary metabolites. A key step in biosynthetic pathway design is the extraction of novel metabolic pathways from big networks that integrate known biological, as well as novel, predicted biotransformations. However, the efficient analysis and the navigation of big biochemical networks remain a challenge. Results Here, we propose the construction of searchable graph representations of metabolic networks. Each reaction is decomposed into pairs of reactants and products, and each pair is assigned a weight, which is calculated from the number of conserved atoms between the reactant and the product molecule. We test our method on a biochemical network that spans 6546 known enzymatic reactions to show how our approach elegantly extracts biologically relevant metabolic pathways from biochemical networks, and how the proposed network structure enables the application of efficient graph search algorithms that improve navigation and pathway identification in big metabolic networks. The weighted reactant–product pairs of an example network and the corresponding graph search algorithm are available online. The proposed method extracts metabolic pathways fast and reliably from big biochemical networks, which is inherently important for all applications involving the engineering of metabolic networks. Availability and implementation https://github.com/EPFL-LCSB/nicepath. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jasmin Hafner
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology (LCSB), Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC), School of Basic Sciences (SB), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Vassily Hatzimanikatis
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology (LCSB), Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC), School of Basic Sciences (SB), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
- To whom correspondence should be addressed.
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42
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Escherichia coli as a platform microbial host for systems metabolic engineering. Essays Biochem 2021; 65:225-246. [PMID: 33956149 DOI: 10.1042/ebc20200172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2021] [Revised: 04/12/2021] [Accepted: 04/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Bio-based production of industrially important chemicals and materials from non-edible and renewable biomass has become increasingly important to resolve the urgent worldwide issues including climate change. Also, bio-based production, instead of chemical synthesis, of food ingredients and natural products has gained ever increasing interest for health benefits. Systems metabolic engineering allows more efficient development of microbial cell factories capable of sustainable, green, and human-friendly production of diverse chemicals and materials. Escherichia coli is unarguably the most widely employed host strain for the bio-based production of chemicals and materials. In the present paper, we review the tools and strategies employed for systems metabolic engineering of E. coli. Next, representative examples and strategies for the production of chemicals including biofuels, bulk and specialty chemicals, and natural products are discussed, followed by discussion on materials including polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), proteins, and nanomaterials. Lastly, future perspectives and challenges remaining for systems metabolic engineering of E. coli are discussed.
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43
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Li J, Zhao H, Zheng L, An W. Advances in Synthetic Biology and Biosafety Governance. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2021; 9:598087. [PMID: 33996776 PMCID: PMC8120004 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2021.598087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2020] [Accepted: 02/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Tremendous advances in the field of synthetic biology have been witnessed in multiple areas including life sciences, industrial development, and environmental bio-remediation. However, due to the limitations of human understanding in the code of life, any possible intended or unintended uses of synthetic biology, and other unknown reasons, the development and application of this technology has raised concerns over biosafety, biosecurity, and even cyberbiosecurity that they may expose public health and the environment to unknown hazards. Over the past decades, some countries in Europe, America, and Asia have enacted laws and regulations to control the application of synthetic biology techniques in basic and applied research and this has resulted in some benefits. The outbreak of the COVID-19 caused by novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and various speculations about the origin of this virus have attracted more attention on bio-risk concerns of synthetic biology because of its potential power and uncertainty in the synthesis and engineering of living organisms. Therefore, it is crucial to scrutinize the control measures put in place to ensure appropriate use, promote the development of synthetic biology, and strengthen the governance of pathogen-related research, although the true origin of coronavirus remains hotly debated and unresolved. This article reviews the recent progress made in the field of synthetic biology and combs laws and regulations in governing bio-risk issues. We emphasize the urgent need for legislative and regulatory constraints and oversight to address the biological risks of synthetic biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Li
- College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Huimiao Zhao
- College of Humanities and Law, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Lanxin Zheng
- College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Wenlin An
- College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China
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44
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Vila-Santa A, Islam MA, Ferreira FC, Prather KLJ, Mira NP. Prospecting Biochemical Pathways to Implement Microbe-Based Production of the New-to-Nature Platform Chemical Levulinic Acid. ACS Synth Biol 2021; 10:724-736. [PMID: 33764057 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.0c00518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Levulinic acid is a versatile platform molecule with potential to be used as an intermediate in the synthesis of many value-added products used across different industries, from cosmetics to fuels. Thus far, microbial biosynthetic pathways having levulinic acid as a product or an intermediate are not known, which restrains the development and optimization of a microbe-based process envisaging the sustainable bioproduction of this chemical. One of the doors opened by synthetic biology in the design of microbial systems is the implementation of new-to-nature pathways, that is, the assembly of combinations of enzymes not observed in vivo, where the enzymes can use not only their native substrates but also non-native ones, creating synthetic steps that enable the production of novel compounds. Resorting to a combined approach involving complementary computational tools and extensive manual curation, in this work, we provide a thorough prospect of candidate biosynthetic pathways that can be assembled for the production of levulinic acid in Escherichia coli or Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Out of the hundreds of combinations screened, five pathways were selected as best candidates on the basis of the availability of substrates and of candidate enzymes to catalyze the synthetic steps (that is, those steps that involve conversions not previously described). Genome-scale metabolic modeling was used to assess the performance of these pathways in the two selected hosts and to anticipate possible bottlenecks. Not only does the herein described approach offer a platform for the future implementation of the microbial production of levulinic acid but also it provides an organized research strategy that can be used as a framework for the implementation of other new-to-nature biosynthetic pathways for the production of value-added chemicals, thus fostering the emerging field of synthetic industrial microbiotechnology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Vila-Santa
- Department of Bioengineering and Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - M. Ahsanul Islam
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU Loughborough, United Kingdom
| | - Frederico C. Ferreira
- Department of Bioengineering and Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Kristala L. J. Prather
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Center for Integrative Synthetic Biology (CISB), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - Nuno P. Mira
- Department of Bioengineering and Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
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45
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Hafner J, Payne J, MohammadiPeyhani H, Hatzimanikatis V, Smolke C. A computational workflow for the expansion of heterologous biosynthetic pathways to natural product derivatives. Nat Commun 2021; 12:1760. [PMID: 33741955 PMCID: PMC7979880 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22022-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2020] [Accepted: 02/24/2021] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Plant natural products (PNPs) and their derivatives are important but underexplored sources of pharmaceutical molecules. To access this untapped potential, the reconstitution of heterologous PNP biosynthesis pathways in engineered microbes provides a valuable starting point to explore and produce novel PNP derivatives. Here, we introduce a computational workflow to systematically screen the biochemical vicinity of a biosynthetic pathway for pharmaceutical compounds that could be produced by derivatizing pathway intermediates. We apply our workflow to the biosynthetic pathway of noscapine, a benzylisoquinoline alkaloid (BIA) with a long history of medicinal use. Our workflow identifies pathways and enzyme candidates for the production of (S)-tetrahydropalmatine, a known analgesic and anxiolytic, and three additional derivatives. We then construct pathways for these compounds in yeast, resulting in platforms for de novo biosynthesis of BIA derivatives and demonstrating the value of cheminformatic tools to predict reactions, pathways, and enzymes in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jasmin Hafner
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - James Payne
- Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Homa MohammadiPeyhani
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Vassily Hatzimanikatis
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Christina Smolke
- Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
- Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA, USA.
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46
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Girija A, Vijayanathan M, Sreekumar S, Basheer J, Menon TG, Krishnankutty RE, Soniya EV. Harnessing the natural pool of polyketide and non-ribosomal peptide family: A route map towards novel drug development. Curr Mol Pharmacol 2021; 15:265-291. [PMID: 33745440 DOI: 10.2174/1874467214666210319145816] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2020] [Revised: 12/10/2020] [Accepted: 12/31/2020] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Emergence of communicable and non-communicable diseases possess health challenge to millions of people worldwide and is a major threat to the economic and social development in the coming century. The occurrence of recent pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 caused by lethal severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is one such example. Rapid research and development of drugs for the treatment and management of these diseases has been an incredibly challenging task for the pharmaceutical industry. Although, substantial focus has been made in the discovery of therapeutic compounds from natural sources having significant medicinal potential, their synthesis has shown a slow progress. Hence, the discovery of new targets by the application of the latest biotechnological and synthetic biology approaches is very much the need of the hour. Polyketides (PKs) and non-ribosomal peptides (NRPs) found in bacteria, fungi and plants are a large diverse family of natural products synthesized by two classes of enzymes: polyketide synthases (PKS) and non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS). These enzymes possess immense biomedical potential due to their simple architecture, catalytic capacity, as well as diversity. With the advent of latest in-silico and in-vitro strategies, these enzymes and their related metabolic pathways, if targeted, can contribute highly towards the biosynthesis of an array of potentially natural drug leads that have antagonist effects on biopolymers associated with various human diseases. In the face of the rising threat from the multidrug-resistant pathogens, this will further open new avenues for the discovery of novel and improved drugs by combining the natural and the synthetic approaches. This review discusses the relevance of polyketides and non-ribosomal peptides and the improvement strategies for the development of their derivatives and scaffolds, and how they will be beneficial to the future bioprospecting and drug discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aiswarya Girija
- Transdisciplinary Biology, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.,Institute of Biological Environmental Rural Sciences (IBERS), Aberystwyth University, United Kingdom
| | - Mallika Vijayanathan
- Transdisciplinary Biology, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.,Biology Centre - Institute of Plant Molecular Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, 370 05, Czech Republic
| | - Sweda Sreekumar
- Transdisciplinary Biology, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.,Research Centre, University of Kerala, India
| | - Jasim Basheer
- School of Biosciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, PD Hills, Kottayam, Kerala, India.,Department of Cell Biology, Centre of the Region Haná for Biotechnological and Agricultural Research, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic
| | - Tara G Menon
- Transdisciplinary Biology, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
| | | | - Eppurathu Vasudevan Soniya
- Transdisciplinary Biology, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
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47
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Chiappino-Pepe A, Hatzimanikatis V. PhenoMapping: a protocol to map cellular phenotypes to metabolic bottlenecks, identify conditional essentiality, and curate metabolic models. STAR Protoc 2021; 2:100280. [PMID: 33532729 PMCID: PMC7829271 DOI: 10.1016/j.xpro.2020.100280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Targeted identification of cellular processes responsible for a phenotype is of major importance in guiding efforts in bioengineering and medicine. Genome-scale metabolic models (GEMs) are widely used to integrate various types of omics data and study the cellular physiology under different conditions. Here, we present PhenoMapping, a protocol that uses GEMs, omics, and phenotypic data to map cellular processes and observed phenotypes. PhenoMapping also classifies genes as conditionally and unconditionally essential and guides a comprehensive curation of GEMs. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Stanway et al. (2019) and Krishnan et al. (2020).
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Affiliation(s)
- Anush Chiappino-Pepe
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Vassily Hatzimanikatis
- Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
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48
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Porokhin V, Amin SA, Nicks TB, Gopinarayanan VE, Nair NU, Hassoun S. Analysis of metabolic network disruption in engineered microbial hosts due to enzyme promiscuity. Metab Eng Commun 2021; 12:e00170. [PMID: 33850714 PMCID: PMC8039717 DOI: 10.1016/j.mec.2021.e00170] [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: 09/08/2020] [Revised: 01/22/2021] [Accepted: 03/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Increasing understanding of metabolic and regulatory networks underlying microbial physiology has enabled creation of progressively more complex synthetic biological systems for biochemical, biomedical, agricultural, and environmental applications. However, despite best efforts, confounding phenotypes still emerge from unforeseen interplay between biological parts, and the design of robust and modular biological systems remains elusive. Such interactions are difficult to predict when designing synthetic systems and may manifest during experimental testing as inefficiencies that need to be overcome. Transforming organisms such as Escherichia coli into microbial factories is achieved via several engineering strategies, used individually or in combination, with the goal of maximizing the production of chosen target compounds. One technique relies on suppressing or overexpressing selected genes; another involves introducing heterologous enzymes into a microbial host. These modifications steer mass flux towards the set of desired metabolites but may create unexpected interactions. In this work, we develop a computational method, termed Metabolic Disruption Workflow (MDFlow), for discovering interactions and network disruptions arising from enzyme promiscuity – the ability of enzymes to act on a wide range of molecules that are structurally similar to their native substrates. We apply MDFlow to two experimentally verified cases where strains with essential genes knocked out are rescued by interactions resulting from overexpression of one or more other genes. We demonstrate how enzyme promiscuity may aid cells in adapting to disruptions of essential metabolic functions. We then apply MDFlow to predict and evaluate a number of putative promiscuous reactions that can interfere with two heterologous pathways designed for 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) production. Using MDFlow, we can identify putative enzyme promiscuity and the subsequent formation of unintended and undesirable byproducts that are not only disruptive to the host metabolism but also to the intended end-objective of high biosynthetic productivity and yield. As we demonstrate, MDFlow provides an innovative workflow to systematically identify incompatibilities between the native metabolism of the host and its engineered modifications due to enzyme promiscuity. Engineering modifications to cellular hosts result in undesirable byproducts. Metabolic Disruption: changes in engineered host due to enzyme promiscuity. Metabolic Disruption Workflow (MDFlow) uncovers metabolic disruption. MDFlow corroborates previously experimentally verified promiscuous interactions. MDFlow compares disruption due to heterologous pathways targeting 3-HP production.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sara A Amin
- Department of Computer Science, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA
| | - Trevor B Nicks
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA
| | | | - Nikhil U Nair
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA
| | - Soha Hassoun
- Department of Computer Science, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.,Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA
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49
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Curating a comprehensive set of enzymatic reaction rules for efficient novel biosynthetic pathway design. Metab Eng 2021; 65:79-87. [PMID: 33662575 DOI: 10.1016/j.ymben.2021.02.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2020] [Revised: 02/05/2021] [Accepted: 02/23/2021] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Enzyme substrate promiscuity has significant implications for metabolic engineering. The ability to predict the space of possible enzymatic side reactions is crucial for elucidating underground metabolic networks in microorganisms, as well as harnessing novel biosynthetic capabilities of enzymes to produce desired chemicals. Reaction rule-based cheminformatics platforms have been implemented to computationally enumerate possible promiscuous reactions, relying on existing knowledge of enzymatic transformations to inform novel reactions. However, past versions of curated reaction rules have been limited by a lack of comprehensiveness in representing all possible transformations, as well as the need to prune rules to enhance computational efficiency in pathway expansion. To this end, we curated a set of 1224 most generalized reaction rules, automatically abstracted from atom-mapped MetaCyc reactions and verified to uniquely cover all common enzymatic transformations. We developed a framework to systematically identify and correct redundancies and errors in the curation process, resulting in a minimal, yet comprehensive, rule set. These reaction rules were capable of reproducing more than 85% of all reactions in the KEGG and BRENDA databases, for which a large fraction of reactions is not present in MetaCyc. Our rules exceed all previously published rule sets for which reproduction was possible in this coverage analysis, which allows for the exploration of a larger space of known enzymatic transformations. By leveraging the entire knowledge of possible metabolic reactions through generalized enzymatic reaction rules, we are able to better utilize underground metabolic pathways and accelerate novel biosynthetic pathway design to enable bioproduction towards a wider range of new molecules.
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50
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Bernstein DB, Sulheim S, Almaas E, Segrè D. Addressing uncertainty in genome-scale metabolic model reconstruction and analysis. Genome Biol 2021; 22:64. [PMID: 33602294 PMCID: PMC7890832 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-021-02289-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2020] [Accepted: 02/04/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The reconstruction and analysis of genome-scale metabolic models constitutes a powerful systems biology approach, with applications ranging from basic understanding of genotype-phenotype mapping to solving biomedical and environmental problems. However, the biological insight obtained from these models is limited by multiple heterogeneous sources of uncertainty, which are often difficult to quantify. Here we review the major sources of uncertainty and survey existing approaches developed for representing and addressing them. A unified formal characterization of these uncertainties through probabilistic approaches and ensemble modeling will facilitate convergence towards consistent reconstruction pipelines, improved data integration algorithms, and more accurate assessment of predictive capacity.
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Affiliation(s)
- David B Bernstein
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Biological Design Center, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Snorre Sulheim
- Bioinformatics Program, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Biotechnology and Food Science, NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Department of Biotechnology and Nanomedicine, SINTEF Industry, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Eivind Almaas
- Department of Biotechnology and Food Science, NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- K.G. Jebsen Center for Genetic Epidemiology, NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Daniel Segrè
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Biological Design Center, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
- Bioinformatics Program, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
- Department of Biology and Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
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