1
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Yu Y, Trottmann NF, Schärer MR, Fenner K, Robinson SL. Substrate promiscuity of xenobiotic-transforming hydrolases from stream biofilms impacted by treated wastewater. WATER RESEARCH 2024; 256:121593. [PMID: 38631239 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.121593] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2023] [Revised: 04/07/2024] [Accepted: 04/08/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024]
Abstract
Organic contaminants enter aquatic ecosystems from various sources, including wastewater treatment plant effluent. Freshwater biofilms play a major role in the removal of organic contaminants from receiving water bodies, but knowledge of the molecular mechanisms driving contaminant biotransformations in complex stream biofilm (periphyton) communities remains limited. Previously, we demonstrated that biofilms in experimental flume systems grown at higher ratios of treated wastewater (WW) to stream water displayed an increased biotransformation potential for a number of organic contaminants. We identified a positive correlation between WW percentage and biofilm biotransformation rates for the widely-used insect repellent, N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET) and a number of other wastewater-borne contaminants with hydrolyzable moieties. Here, we conducted deep shotgun sequencing of flume biofilms and identified a positive correlation between WW percentage and metagenomic read abundances of DEET hydrolase (DH) homologs. To test the causality of this association, we constructed a targeted metagenomic library of DH homologs from flume biofilms. We screened our complete metagenomic library for activity with four different substrates, including DEET, and a subset thereof with 183 WW-related organic compounds. The majority of active hydrolases in the metagenomic library preferred aliphatic and aromatic ester substrates while, remarkably, only a single reference enzyme was capable of DEET hydrolysis. Of the 626 total enzyme-substrate combinations tested, approximately 5% were active enzyme-substrate pairs. Metagenomic DH family homologs revealed a broad substrate promiscuity spanning 22 different compounds when summed across all enzymes tested. We biochemically characterized the most promiscuous and active enzymes identified based on metagenomic analysis from uncultivated Rhodospirillaceae and Planctomycetaceae. In addition to characterizing new DH family enzymes, we exemplified a framework for linking metagenome-guided hypothesis generation with experimental validation. Overall, this study expands the scope of known enzymatic contaminant biotransformations for metagenomic hydrolases from WW-receiving stream biofilm communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaochun Yu
- Department of Environmental Chemistry, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Niklas Ferenc Trottmann
- Department of Environmental Microbiology, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Milo R Schärer
- Department of Environmental Microbiology, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Kathrin Fenner
- Department of Environmental Chemistry, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland; Department of Chemistry, University of Zürich, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Serina L Robinson
- Department of Environmental Microbiology, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
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2
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Hu Z, Gu D, Skyrud W, Du Y, Zhai R, Wang J, Zhang W. Engineered Biosynthesis and Anticancer Studies of Ring-Expanded Antimycin-Type Depsipeptides. ACS Synth Biol 2024; 13:1562-1571. [PMID: 38679882 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.4c00193] [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: 05/01/2024]
Abstract
Respirantins are 18-membered antimycin-type depsipeptides produced by Streptomyces sp. and Kitasatospora sp. These compounds have shown extraordinary anticancer activities against a panel of cancer cell lines with nanomolar levels of IC50 values. However, further investigation has been impeded by the low titers of the natural producers and the challenging chemical synthesis due to their structural complexity. The biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) of respirantin was previously proposed based on a bioinformatic comparison of the four members of antimycin-type depsipeptides. In this study, we report the first successful reconstitution of respirantin in Streptomyces albus using a synthetic BGC. This heterologous system serves as an accessible platform for the production and diversification of respirantins. Through polyketide synthase pathway engineering, biocatalysis, and chemical derivatization, we generated nine respirantin compounds, including six new derivatives. Cytotoxicity screening against human MCF-7 and Hela cancer cell lines revealed a unique biphasic dose-response profile of respirantin. Furthermore, a structure-activity relationship study has elucidated the essential functional groups that contribute to its remarkable cytotoxicity. This work paves the way for respirantin-based anticancer drug discovery and development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhijuan Hu
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
- Center of Synthetic Biology and Integrated Bioengineering, School of Engineering, Westlake University, 600 Dunyu Road, Xihu District, Hangzhou 310024, China
| | - Di Gu
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Will Skyrud
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Yongle Du
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Rui Zhai
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Juan Wang
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Wenjun Zhang
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
- California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
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3
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Covington JK, Torosian N, Cook AM, Palmer M, Bryan SG, Nou NO, Mewalal R, Harmon-Smith M, Blaby IK, Cheng JF, Hess M, Brumm PJ, Singh NK, Venkateswaran K, Hedlund BP. Biochemical characterization of Fsa16295Glu from "Fervidibacter sacchari," the first hyperthermophilic GH50 with β-1,3-endoglucanase activity and founding member of the subfamily GH50_3. Front Microbiol 2024; 15:1355444. [PMID: 38725686 PMCID: PMC11079163 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1355444] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2023] [Accepted: 04/08/2024] [Indexed: 05/12/2024] Open
Abstract
The aerobic hyperthermophile "Fervidibacter sacchari" catabolizes diverse polysaccharides and is the only cultivated member of the class "Fervidibacteria" within the phylum Armatimonadota. It encodes 117 putative glycoside hydrolases (GHs), including two from GH family 50 (GH50). In this study, we expressed, purified, and functionally characterized one of these GH50 enzymes, Fsa16295Glu. We show that Fsa16295Glu is a β-1,3-endoglucanase with optimal activity on carboxymethyl curdlan (CM-curdlan) and only weak agarase activity, despite most GH50 enzymes being described as β-agarases. The purified enzyme has a wide temperature range of 4-95°C (optimal 80°C), making it the first characterized hyperthermophilic representative of GH50. The enzyme is also active at a broad pH range of at least 5.5-11 (optimal 6.5-10). Fsa16295Glu possesses a relatively high kcat/KM of 1.82 × 107 s-1 M-1 with CM-curdlan and degrades CM-curdlan nearly completely to sugar monomers, indicating preferential hydrolysis of glucans containing β-1,3 linkages. Finally, a phylogenetic analysis of Fsa16295Glu and all other GH50 enzymes revealed that Fsa16295Glu is distant from other characterized enzymes but phylogenetically related to enzymes from thermophilic archaea that were likely acquired horizontally from "Fervidibacteria." Given its functional and phylogenetic novelty, we propose that Fsa16295Glu represents a new enzyme subfamily, GH50_3.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Nicole Torosian
- School of Life Sciences, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, United States
| | - Allison M. Cook
- School of Life Sciences, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, United States
| | - Marike Palmer
- School of Life Sciences, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, United States
- Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
| | - Scott G. Bryan
- School of Life Sciences, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, United States
| | - Nancy O. Nou
- School of Life Sciences, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, United States
| | - Ritesh Mewalal
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Miranda Harmon-Smith
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Ian K. Blaby
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Jan-Fang Cheng
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Matthias Hess
- Department of Animal Science, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
| | | | - Nitin K. Singh
- Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
| | - Kasthuri Venkateswaran
- Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
| | - Brian P. Hedlund
- School of Life Sciences, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, United States
- Nevada Institute of Personalized Medicine, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, United States
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4
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Esser SP, Rahlff J, Zhao W, Predl M, Plewka J, Sures K, Wimmer F, Lee J, Adam PS, McGonigle J, Turzynski V, Banas I, Schwank K, Krupovic M, Bornemann TLV, Figueroa-Gonzalez PA, Jarett J, Rattei T, Amano Y, Blaby IK, Cheng JF, Brazelton WJ, Beisel CL, Woyke T, Zhang Y, Probst AJ. A predicted CRISPR-mediated symbiosis between uncultivated archaea. Nat Microbiol 2023; 8:1619-1633. [PMID: 37500801 DOI: 10.1038/s41564-023-01439-2] [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: 05/09/2023] [Accepted: 06/23/2023] [Indexed: 07/29/2023]
Abstract
CRISPR-Cas systems defend prokaryotic cells from invasive DNA of viruses, plasmids and other mobile genetic elements. Here, we show using metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and single-cell genomics that CRISPR systems of widespread, uncultivated archaea can also target chromosomal DNA of archaeal episymbionts of the DPANN superphylum. Using meta-omics datasets from Crystal Geyser and Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory, we find that CRISPR spacers of the hosts Candidatus Altiarchaeum crystalense and Ca. A. horonobense, respectively, match putative essential genes in their episymbionts' genomes of the genus Ca. Huberiarchaeum and that some of these spacers are expressed in situ. Metabolic interaction modelling also reveals complementation between host-episymbiont systems, on the basis of which we propose that episymbionts are either parasitic or mutualistic depending on the genotype of the host. By expanding our analysis to 7,012 archaeal genomes, we suggest that CRISPR-Cas targeting of genomes associated with symbiotic archaea evolved independently in various archaeal lineages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah P Esser
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
- Group for Aquatic Microbial Ecology, Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Janina Rahlff
- Group for Aquatic Microbial Ecology, Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
- Centre for Ecology and Evolution in Microbial Model Systems (EEMiS), Department of Biology and Environmental Science, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden
| | - Weishu Zhao
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, College of the Environment and Life Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USA
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, International Center for Deep Life Investigation (IC-DLI), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Michael Predl
- Computational Systems Biology, Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Doctoral School in Microbiology and Environmental Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Julia Plewka
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
- Group for Aquatic Microbial Ecology, Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Katharina Sures
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
- Group for Aquatic Microbial Ecology, Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Franziska Wimmer
- Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Würzburg, Germany
| | - Janey Lee
- DOE Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Panagiotis S Adam
- Group for Aquatic Microbial Ecology, Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Julia McGonigle
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Victoria Turzynski
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
- Group for Aquatic Microbial Ecology, Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Indra Banas
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
- Group for Aquatic Microbial Ecology, Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Katrin Schwank
- Group for Aquatic Microbial Ecology, Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
- University of Regensburg, Biochemistry III, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Mart Krupovic
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR6047, Archaeal Virology Unit, Paris, France
| | - Till L V Bornemann
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
- Group for Aquatic Microbial Ecology, Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Perla Abigail Figueroa-Gonzalez
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
- Group for Aquatic Microbial Ecology, Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Jessica Jarett
- DOE Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Thomas Rattei
- Computational Systems Biology, Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Doctoral School in Microbiology and Environmental Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Yuki Amano
- Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Tokai, Japan
| | - Ian K Blaby
- DOE Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Jan-Fang Cheng
- DOE Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | | | - Chase L Beisel
- Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Würzburg, Germany
- Medical faculty, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Tanja Woyke
- DOE Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Ying Zhang
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, College of the Environment and Life Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USA
| | - Alexander J Probst
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
- Group for Aquatic Microbial Ecology, Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
- Centre of Water and Environmental Research (ZWU), University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
- Centre of Medical Biotechnology (ZMB), University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
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5
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Back D, O’Donnell TJ, Axt KK, Gurr JR, Vanegas JM, Williams PG, Philmus B. Identification, Heterologous Expression, and Characterization of the Tolypodiol Biosynthetic Gene Cluster through an Integrated Approach. ACS Chem Biol 2023; 18:1797-1807. [PMID: 37487226 PMCID: PMC10529828 DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.3c00225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/26/2023]
Abstract
Cyanobacteria are tremendous producers of biologically active natural products, including the potent anti-inflammatory compound tolypodiol. However, linking biosynthetic gene clusters with compound production in cyanobacteria has lagged behind that in other bacterial genera. Tolypodiol is a meroterpenoid originally isolated from the cyanobacterium HT-58-2. Here we describe the identification of the tolypodiol biosynthetic gene cluster through heterologous expression in Anabaena and in vitro protein assays of a methyltransferase found in the tolypodiol biosynthetic gene cluster. We have also identified similar biosynthetic gene clusters in cyanobacterial and actinobacterial genomes, suggesting that meroterpenoids with structural similarity to the tolypodiols may be synthesized by other microbes. We also report the identification of two new analogs of tolypodiol that we have identified in both the original and heterologous producer. This work further illustrates the usefulness of Anabaena as a heterologous expression host for cyanobacterial compounds and how integrated approaches can help to link natural product compounds with their producing biosynthetic gene clusters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Back
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, U.S.A
| | - Timothy J. O’Donnell
- Department of Chemistry, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, U.S.A
| | - Kyle K. Axt
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, U.S.A
| | - Joshua R. Gurr
- Department of Chemistry, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, U.S.A
| | - Juan M. Vanegas
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, U.S.A
| | - Philip G. Williams
- Department of Chemistry, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, U.S.A
| | - Benjamin Philmus
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, U.S.A
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6
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Xiao Y, Wu K, Batool SS, Wang Q, Chen H, Zhai X, Yu Z, Huang J. Enzymatic properties of alcohol dehydrogenase PedE_M.s. derived from Methylopila sp. M107 and its broad metal selectivity. Front Microbiol 2023; 14:1191436. [PMID: 37560521 PMCID: PMC10409515 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1191436] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2023] [Accepted: 07/10/2023] [Indexed: 08/11/2023] Open
Abstract
As an important metabolic enzyme in methylotrophs, pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ)-dependent alcohol dehydrogenases play significant roles in the global carbon and nitrogen cycles. In this article, a calcium (Ca2+)-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase PedE_M.s., derived from the methylotroph Methylopila sp. M107 was inserted into the modified vector pCM80 and heterologously expressed in the host Methylorubrum extorquens AM1. Based on sequence analysis, PedE_M.s., a PQQ-dependent dehydrogenase belonging to a methanol/ethanol family, was successfully extracted and purified. Showing by biochemical results, its enzymatic activity was detected as 0.72 U/mg while the Km value was 0.028 mM while employing ethanol as optimal substrate. The activity of PedE_M.s. could be enhanced by the presence of potassium (K+) and calcium (Ca2+), while acetonitrile and certain common detergents have been found to decrease the activity of PedE_M.s.. In addition, its optimum temperature and pH were 30°C and pH 9.0, respectively. Chiefly, as a type of Ca2+-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase, PedE_M.s. maintained 60-80% activity in the presence of 10 mM lanthanides and displayed high affinity for ethanol compared to other PedE-type enzymes. The 3D structure of PedE_M.s. was predicted by AlphaFold, and it had an 8-bladed propeller-like super-barrel. Meanwhile, we could speculate that PedE_M.s. contained the conserved residues Glu213, Asn300, and Asp350 through multiple sequence alignment by Clustal and ESpript. The analysis of enzymatic properties of PedE_M.s. enriches our knowledge of the methanol/ethanol family PQQ-dependent dehydrogenase. This study provides new ideas to broaden the application of alcohol dehydrogenase in alcohol concentration calculation, biosensor preparation, and other industries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ying Xiao
- Department of Microbiology, School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Kaijuan Wu
- Department of Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Syeda Sundas Batool
- Department of Microbiology, School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Qingqun Wang
- Department of Microbiology, School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Hao Chen
- Department of Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Xingyu Zhai
- Department of Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Zheng Yu
- Department of Microbiology, School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
- Human Microbiome and Health Group, Department of Microbiology, School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Jing Huang
- Department of Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
- Human Microbiome and Health Group, Department of Microbiology, School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
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7
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Lillington SP, Hamilton M, Cheng JF, Yoshikuni Y, O'Malley MA. Expression and characterization of spore coat CotH kinases from the cellulosomes of anaerobic fungi (Neocallimastigomycetes). Protein Expr Purif 2023:106323. [PMID: 37331410 DOI: 10.1016/j.pep.2023.106323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Revised: 06/13/2023] [Accepted: 06/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/20/2023]
Abstract
Anaerobic fungi (Neocallimastigomycetes) found in the guts of herbivores are biomass deconstruction specialists with a remarkable ability to extract sugars from recalcitrant plant material. Anaerobic fungi, as well as many species of anaerobic bacteria, deploy multi-enzyme complexes called cellulosomes, which modularly tether together hydrolytic enzymes, to accelerate biomass hydrolysis. While the majority of genomically encoded cellulosomal genes in Neocallimastigomycetes are biomass degrading enzymes, the second largest family of cellulosomal genes encode spore coat CotH domains, whose contribution to fungal cellulosome and/or cellular function is unknown. Structural bioinformatics of CotH proteins from the anaerobic fungus Piromyces finnis shows anaerobic fungal CotH domains conserve key ATP and Mg2+ binding motifs from bacterial Bacillus CotH proteins known to act as protein kinases. Experimental characterization further demonstrates ATP hydrolysis activity in the presence and absence of substrate from two cellulosomal P. finnis CotH proteins when recombinantly produced in E. coli. These results present foundational evidence for CotH activity in anaerobic fungi and provide a path towards elucidating the functional contribution of this protein family to fungal cellulosome assembly and activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen P Lillington
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | - Matthew Hamilton
- The US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Jan-Fang Cheng
- The US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Yasuo Yoshikuni
- The US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Michelle A O'Malley
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA.
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8
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Džunková M, La Clair JJ, Tyml T, Doud D, Schulz F, Piquer-Esteban S, Porcel Sanchis D, Osborn A, Robinson D, Louie KB, Bowen BP, Bowers RM, Lee J, Arnau V, Díaz-Villanueva W, Stepanauskas R, Gosliner T, Date SV, Northen TR, Cheng JF, Burkart MD, Woyke T. Synthase-selected sorting approach identifies a beta-lactone synthase in a nudibranch symbiotic bacterium. MICROBIOME 2023; 11:130. [PMID: 37312139 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-023-01560-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2022] [Accepted: 04/27/2023] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Nudibranchs comprise a group of > 6000 marine soft-bodied mollusk species known to use secondary metabolites (natural products) for chemical defense. The full diversity of these metabolites and whether symbiotic microbes are responsible for their synthesis remains unexplored. Another issue in searching for undiscovered natural products is that computational analysis of genomes of uncultured microbes can result in detection of novel biosynthetic gene clusters; however, their in vivo functionality is not guaranteed which limits further exploration of their pharmaceutical or industrial potential. To overcome these challenges, we used a fluorescent pantetheine probe, which produces a fluorescent CoA-analog employed in biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, to label and capture bacterial symbionts actively producing these compounds in the mantle of the nudibranch Doriopsilla fulva. RESULTS We recovered the genome of Candidatus Doriopsillibacter californiensis from the Ca. Tethybacterales order, an uncultured lineage of sponge symbionts not found in nudibranchs previously. It forms part of the core skin microbiome of D. fulva and is nearly absent in its internal organs. We showed that crude extracts of D. fulva contained secondary metabolites that were consistent with the presence of a beta-lactone encoded in Ca. D. californiensis genome. Beta-lactones represent an underexplored group of secondary metabolites with pharmaceutical potential that have not been reported in nudibranchs previously. CONCLUSIONS Altogether, this study shows how probe-based, targeted sorting approaches can capture bacterial symbionts producing secondary metabolites in vivo. Video Abstract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mária Džunková
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA.
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA.
- Institute for Integrative Systems Biology, University of Valencia and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Valencia, Spain.
| | - James J La Clair
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Tomáš Tyml
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Laboratory for Research in Complex Systems, Menlo Park, CA, USA
| | - Devin Doud
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Frederik Schulz
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Samuel Piquer-Esteban
- Institute for Integrative Systems Biology, University of Valencia and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Valencia, Spain
| | - Dafne Porcel Sanchis
- Institute for Integrative Systems Biology, University of Valencia and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Valencia, Spain
| | - Andrew Osborn
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - David Robinson
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Katherine B Louie
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Ben P Bowen
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Robert M Bowers
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Janey Lee
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Vicente Arnau
- Institute for Integrative Systems Biology, University of Valencia and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Valencia, Spain
- Foundation for the Promotion of Sanitary and Biomedical Research of the Valencian Community (FISABIO), Valencia, Spain
| | - Wladimiro Díaz-Villanueva
- Institute for Integrative Systems Biology, University of Valencia and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Valencia, Spain
- Foundation for the Promotion of Sanitary and Biomedical Research of the Valencian Community (FISABIO), Valencia, Spain
| | | | | | - Shailesh V Date
- Laboratory for Research in Complex Systems, Menlo Park, CA, USA
- University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Trent R Northen
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Jan-Fang Cheng
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Michael D Burkart
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.
| | - Tanja Woyke
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA.
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA.
- University of California Merced, Life and Environmental Sciences, Merced, CA, USA.
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9
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Wu ZY, Sun W, Shen Y, Pratas J, Suthers PF, Hsieh PH, Dwaraknath S, Rabinowitz JD, Maranas CD, Shao Z, Yoshikuni Y. Metabolic engineering of low-pH-tolerant non-model yeast, Issatchenkia orientalis, for production of citramalate. Metab Eng Commun 2023; 16:e00220. [PMID: 36860699 PMCID: PMC9969067 DOI: 10.1016/j.mec.2023.e00220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2022] [Revised: 02/08/2023] [Accepted: 02/14/2023] [Indexed: 02/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Methyl methacrylate (MMA) is an important petrochemical with many applications. However, its manufacture has a large environmental footprint. Combined biological and chemical synthesis (semisynthesis) may be a promising alternative to reduce both cost and environmental impact, but strains that can produce the MMA precursor (citramalate) at low pH are required. A non-conventional yeast, Issatchenkia orientalis, may prove ideal, as it can survive extremely low pH. Here, we demonstrate the engineering of I. orientalis for citramalate production. Using sequence similarity network analysis and subsequent DNA synthesis, we selected a more active citramalate synthase gene (cimA) variant for expression in I. orientalis. We then adapted a piggyBac transposon system for I. orientalis that allowed us to simultaneously explore the effects of different cimA gene copy numbers and integration locations. A batch fermentation showed the genome-integrated-cimA strains produced 2.0 g/L citramalate in 48 h and a yield of up to 7% mol citramalate/mol consumed glucose. These results demonstrate the potential of I. orientalis as a chassis for citramalate production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zong-Yen Wu
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Wan Sun
- Interdepartmental Microbiology Program, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011-1027, USA,DOE Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
| | - Yihui Shen
- Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA,Lewis Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA
| | - Jimmy Pratas
- Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA,Lewis Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA
| | - Patrick F. Suthers
- Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA,Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | - Ping-Hung Hsieh
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Sudharsan Dwaraknath
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Joshua D. Rabinowitz
- Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA,Lewis Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA
| | - Costas D. Maranas
- Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA,Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | - Zengyi Shao
- Interdepartmental Microbiology Program, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011-1027, USA,Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011, USA,NSF Engineering Research Center for Biorenewable Chemicals, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011, USA,Bioeconomy Institute, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011, USA,The Ames Laboratory, Ames, IA, 50011, USA,DOE Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA,Corresponding author. Interdepartmental Microbiology Program, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011-1027, USA.
| | - Yasuo Yoshikuni
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA,Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA,Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA,Global Center for Food, Land, and Water Resources, Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, 060-8589, Japan,Corresponding author. Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
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10
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Schultz JC, Mishra S, Gaither E, Mejia A, Dinh H, Maranas C, Zhao H. Metabolic engineering of Rhodotorula toruloides IFO0880 improves C16 and C18 fatty alcohol production from synthetic media. Microb Cell Fact 2022; 21:26. [PMID: 35183175 PMCID: PMC8858515 DOI: 10.1186/s12934-022-01750-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2021] [Accepted: 01/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The oleaginous, carotenogenic yeast Rhodotorula toruloides has been increasingly explored as a platform organism for the production of terpenoids and fatty acid derivatives. Fatty alcohols, a fatty acid derivative widely used in the production of detergents and surfactants, can be produced microbially with the expression of a heterologous fatty acyl-CoA reductase. Due to its high lipid production, R. toruloides has high potential for fatty alcohol production, and in this study several metabolic engineering approaches were investigated to improve the titer of this product. Results Fatty acyl-CoA reductase from Marinobacter aqueolei was co-expressed with SpCas9 in R. toruloides IFO0880 and a panel of gene overexpressions and Cas9-mediated gene deletions were explored to increase the fatty alcohol production. Two overexpression targets (ACL1 and ACC1, improving cytosolic acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA production, respectively) and two deletion targets (the acyltransferases DGA1 and LRO1) resulted in significant (1.8 to 4.4-fold) increases to the fatty alcohol titer in culture tubes. Combinatorial exploration of these modifications in bioreactor fermentation culminated in a 3.7 g/L fatty alcohol titer in the LRO1Δ mutant. As LRO1 deletion was not found to be beneficial for fatty alcohol production in other yeasts, a lipidomic comparison of the DGA1 and LRO1 knockout mutants was performed, finding that DGA1 is the primary acyltransferase responsible for triacylglyceride production in R. toruloides, while LRO1 disruption simultaneously improved fatty alcohol production, increased diacylglyceride and triacylglyceride production, and increased glucose consumption. Conclusions The fatty alcohol titer of fatty acyl-CoA reductase-expressing R. toruloides was significantly improved through the deletion of LRO1, or the deletion of DGA1 combined with overexpression of ACC1 and ACL1. Disruption of LRO1 surprisingly increased both lipid and fatty alcohol production, creating a possible avenue for future study of the lipid metabolism of this yeast. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12934-022-01750-3.
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11
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Schultz JC, Cao M, Mejia A, Zhao H. CUT&RUN Identifies Centromeric DNA Regions of Rhodotorula toruloides IFO0880. FEMS Yeast Res 2021; 21:6460484. [PMID: 34902017 DOI: 10.1093/femsyr/foab066] [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: 08/21/2021] [Accepted: 12/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Rhodotorula toruloides has been increasingly explored as a host for bioproduction of lipids, fatty acid derivatives, and terpenoids. Various genetic tools have been developed, but neither a centromere nor an autonomously replicating sequence (ARS), both necessary elements for stable episomal plasmid maintenance, have yet been reported. In this study, Cleavage Under Targets and Release Using Nuclease (CUT&RUN), a method used for genome-wide mapping DNA-protein interactions, was used to identify R. toruloides IFO0880 genomic regions associated with the centromeric histone H3 protein Cse4, a marker of centromeric DNA. Fifteen putative centromeres ranging from 8 to 19 kb in length were identified and analyzed, and four were tested for, but did not show, ARS activity. These centromeric sequences contained below average GC content, corresponded to transcriptional cold-spots, were primarily nonrepetitive, and shared some vestigial transposon-related sequences but otherwise did not show significant sequence conservation. Future efforts to identify an ARS in this yeast can utilize these centromeric DNA sequences to improve the stability of episomal plasmids derived from putative ARS elements.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Carl Schultz
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, U.S. Department of Energy Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, United States
| | - Mingfeng Cao
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, U.S. Department of Energy Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, United States
| | - Andrea Mejia
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, U.S. Department of Energy Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, United States
| | - Huimin Zhao
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, U.S. Department of Energy Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, United States.,Departments of Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, United States
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12
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Ke J, Zhao Z, Coates CR, Hadjithomas M, Kuftin A, Louie K, Weller D, Thomashow L, Mouncey NJ, Northen TR, Yoshikuni Y. Development of platforms for functional characterization and production of phenazines using a multi-chassis approach via CRAGE. Metab Eng 2021; 69:188-197. [PMID: 34890798 DOI: 10.1016/j.ymben.2021.11.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2021] [Revised: 11/24/2021] [Accepted: 11/30/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Phenazines (Phzs), a family of chemicals with a phenazine backbone, are secondary metabolites with diverse properties such as antibacterial, anti-fungal, or anticancer activity. The core derivatives of phenazine, phenazine-1-carboxylic acid (PCA) and phenazine-1,6-dicarboxylic acid (PDC), are themselves precursors for various other derivatives. Recent advances in genome mining tools have enabled researchers to identify many biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) that might produce novel Phzs. To characterize the function of these BGCs efficiently, we performed modular construct assembly and subsequent multi-chassis heterologous expression using chassis-independent recombinase-assisted genome engineering (CRAGE). CRAGE allowed rapid integration of a PCA BGC into 23 diverse γ-proteobacteria species and allowed us to identify top PCA producers. We then used the top five chassis hosts to express four partially refactored PDC BGCs. A few of these platforms produced high levels of PDC. Specifically, Xenorhabdus doucetiae and Pseudomonas simiae produced PDC at a titer of 293 mg/L and 373 mg/L, respectively, in minimal media. These titers are significantly higher than those previously reported. Furthermore, selectivity toward PDC production over PCA production was improved by up to 9-fold. The results show that these strains are promising chassis for production of PCA, PDC, and their derivatives, as well as for function characterization of Phz BGCs identified via bioinformatics mining.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Ke
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Zhiying Zhao
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Cameron R Coates
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA; Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Michalis Hadjithomas
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Andrea Kuftin
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Katherine Louie
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - David Weller
- USDA Agricultural Research Service, Wheat Health, Genetics and Quality, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA; Department of Plant Pathology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
| | - Linda Thomashow
- USDA Agricultural Research Service, Wheat Health, Genetics and Quality, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA; Department of Plant Pathology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
| | - Nigel J Mouncey
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA; Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Trent R Northen
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA; Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Yasuo Yoshikuni
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA; Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA; Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA; Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA; Global Center for Food, Land, and Water Resources, Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, 060-8589, Japan.
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13
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Dissolved Inorganic Carbon-Accumulating Complexes from Autotrophic Bacteria from Extreme Environments. J Bacteriol 2021; 203:e0037721. [PMID: 34543103 DOI: 10.1128/jb.00377-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
In nature, concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC; CO2 + HCO3- + CO32-) can be low, and autotrophic organisms adapt with a variety of mechanisms to elevate intracellular DIC concentrations to enhance CO2 fixation. Such mechanisms have been well studied in Cyanobacteria, but much remains to be learned about their activity in other phyla. Novel multisubunit membrane-spanning complexes capable of elevating intracellular DIC were recently described in three species of bacteria. Homologs of these complexes are distributed among 17 phyla in Bacteria and Archaea and are predicted to consist of one, two, or three subunits. To determine whether DIC accumulation is a shared feature of these diverse complexes, seven of them, representative of organisms from four phyla, from a variety of habitats, and with three different subunit configurations, were chosen for study. A high-CO2-requiring, carbonic anhydrase-deficient (ΔyadF ΔcynT) strain of Escherichia coli Lemo21(DE3), which could be rescued via elevated intracellular DIC concentrations, was created for heterologous expression and characterization of the complexes. Expression of all seven complexes rescued the ability of E. coli Lemo21(DE3) ΔyadF ΔcynT to grow under low-CO2 conditions, and six of the seven generated measurably elevated intracellular DIC concentrations when their expression was induced. For complexes consisting of two or three subunits, all subunits were necessary for DIC accumulation. Isotopic disequilibrium experiments clarified that CO2 was the substrate for these complexes. In addition, the presence of an ionophore prevented the accumulation of intracellular DIC, suggesting that these complexes may couple proton potential to DIC accumulation. IMPORTANCE To facilitate the synthesis of biomass from CO2, autotrophic organisms use a variety of mechanisms to increase intracellular DIC concentrations. A novel type of multisubunit complex has recently been described, which has been shown to generate measurably elevated intracellular DIC concentrations in three species of bacteria, raising the question of whether these complexes share this capability across the 17 phyla of Bacteria and Archaea where they are found. This study shows that DIC accumulation is a trait shared by complexes with various subunit structures, from organisms with diverse physiologies and taxonomies, suggesting that this trait is universal among them. Successful expression in E. coli suggests the possibility of their expression in engineered organisms synthesizing compounds of industrial importance from CO2.
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14
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Gaeta A, Zulkower V, Stracquadanio G. Design and assembly of DNA molecules using multi-objective optimization. Synth Biol (Oxf) 2021; 6:ysab026. [PMID: 34676304 PMCID: PMC8524653 DOI: 10.1093/synbio/ysab026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2021] [Revised: 07/07/2021] [Accepted: 08/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Rapid engineering of biological systems is currently hindered by limited integration of manufacturing constraints into the design process, ultimately reducing the yield of many synthetic biology workflows. Here we tackle DNA engineering as a multi-objective optimization problem aiming at finding the best tradeoff between design requirements and manufacturing constraints. We developed a new open-source algorithm for DNA engineering, called Multi-Objective Optimisation algorithm for DNA Design and Assembly, available as a Python and Anaconda package, as well as a Docker image. Experimental results show that our method provides near-optimal constructs and scales linearly with design complexity, effectively paving the way to rational engineering of DNA molecules from genes to genomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angelo Gaeta
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3BF, UK
| | - Valentin Zulkower
- Edinburgh Genome Foundry, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3BF, UK
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15
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Raj K, Venayak N, Diep P, Golla SA, Yakunin AF, Mahadevan R. Automation assisted anaerobic phenotyping for metabolic engineering. Microb Cell Fact 2021; 20:184. [PMID: 34556155 PMCID: PMC8461876 DOI: 10.1186/s12934-021-01675-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2021] [Accepted: 09/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Microorganisms can be metabolically engineered to produce a wide range of commercially important chemicals. Advancements in computational strategies for strain design and synthetic biological techniques to construct the designed strains have facilitated the generation of large libraries of potential candidates for chemical production. Consequently, there is a need for high-throughput laboratory scale techniques to characterize and screen these candidates to select strains for further investigation in large scale fermentation processes. Several small-scale fermentation techniques, in conjunction with laboratory automation have enhanced the throughput of enzyme and strain phenotyping experiments. However, such high throughput experimentation typically entails large operational costs and generate massive amounts of laboratory plastic waste. RESULTS In this work, we develop an eco-friendly automation workflow that effectively calibrates and decontaminates fixed-tip liquid handling systems to reduce tip waste. We also investigate inexpensive methods to establish anaerobic conditions in microplates for high-throughput anaerobic phenotyping. To validate our phenotyping platform, we perform two case studies-an anaerobic enzyme screen, and a microbial phenotypic screen. We used our automation platform to investigate conditions under which several strains of E. coli exhibit the same phenotypes in 0.5 L bioreactors and in our scaled-down fermentation platform. We also propose the use of dimensionality reduction through t-distributed stochastic neighbours embedding (t-SNE) in conjunction with our phenotyping platform to effectively cluster similarly performing strains at the bioreactor scale. CONCLUSIONS Fixed-tip liquid handling systems can significantly reduce the amount of plastic waste generated in biological laboratories and our decontamination and calibration protocols could facilitate the widespread adoption of such systems. Further, the use of t-SNE in conjunction with our automation platform could serve as an effective scale-down model for bioreactor fermentations. Finally, by integrating an in-house data-analysis pipeline, we were able to accelerate the 'test' phase of the design-build-test-learn cycle of metabolic engineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaushik Raj
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto, M5S 3E5 Canada
| | - Naveen Venayak
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto, M5S 3E5 Canada
| | - Patrick Diep
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto, M5S 3E5 Canada
| | - Sai Akhil Golla
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto, M5S 3E5 Canada
| | - Alexander F. Yakunin
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto, M5S 3E5 Canada
- School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, LL57 2DG UK
| | - Radhakrishnan Mahadevan
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto, M5S 3E5 Canada
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, 164 College Street, Toronto, M5S 3G9 Canada
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16
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Abstract
Reports of biogenic methane (CH4) synthesis associated with a range of organisms have steadily accumulated in the literature. This has not happened without controversy and in most cases the process is poorly understood at the gene and enzyme levels. In marine and freshwater environments, CH4 supersaturation of oxic surface waters has been termed the "methane paradox" because biological CH4 synthesis is viewed to be a strictly anaerobic process carried out by O2-sensitive methanogens. Interest in this phenomenon has surged within the past decade because of the importance of understanding sources and sinks of this potent greenhouse gas. In our work on Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park, we demonstrate microbiological conversion of methylamine to CH4 and isolate and characterize an Acidovorax sp. capable of this activity. Furthermore, we identify and clone a gene critical to this process (encodes pyridoxylamine phosphate-dependent aspartate aminotransferase) and demonstrate that this property can be transferred to Escherichia coli with this gene and will occur as a purified enzyme. This previously unrecognized process sheds light on environmental cycling of CH4, suggesting that O2-insensitive, ecologically relevant aerobic CH4 synthesis is likely of widespread distribution in the environment and should be considered in CH4 modeling efforts.
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17
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Oberortner E, Evans R, Meng X, Nath S, Plahar H, Simirenko L, Tarver A, Deutsch S, Hillson NJ, Cheng JF. An Integrated Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing Workflow for Synthetic Biology. Methods Mol Biol 2021; 2205:3-18. [PMID: 32809190 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0908-8_1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/10/2023]
Abstract
Biological computer-aided design and manufacturing (bioCAD/CAM) tools facilitate the design and build processes of engineering biological systems using iterative design-build-test-learn (DBTL) cycles. In this book chapter, we highlight some of the bioCAD/CAM tools developed and used at the US Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), and Agile BioFoundry (ABF). We demonstrate the use of these bioCAD/CAM tools on a common workflow for designing and building a multigene pathway in a hierarchical fashion. Each tool presented in this book chapter is specifically tailored to support one or more specific steps in a workflow, can be integrated with the others into design and build workflows, and can be deployed at academic, government, or commercial entities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ernst Oberortner
- DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Berkeley, CA, USA. .,Environmental Genomics & Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA.
| | - Robert Evans
- DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Berkeley, CA, USA.,Environmental Genomics & Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Xianwei Meng
- DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Berkeley, CA, USA.,Environmental Genomics & Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Sangeeta Nath
- DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Berkeley, CA, USA.,Environmental Genomics & Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Hector Plahar
- Biological Systems & Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA.,Technology Division, DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Lisa Simirenko
- DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Berkeley, CA, USA.,Environmental Genomics & Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Angela Tarver
- DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Berkeley, CA, USA.,Environmental Genomics & Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Samuel Deutsch
- DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Berkeley, CA, USA.,Environmental Genomics & Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Nathan J Hillson
- DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Berkeley, CA, USA.,Biological Systems & Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA.,Technology Division, DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), Emeryville, CA, USA.,DOE Agile BioFoundry, Emeryville, CA, USA.,TeselaGen Biotechnology, Inc., San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Jan-Fang Cheng
- DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Berkeley, CA, USA.,Environmental Genomics & Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
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18
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Zulkower V, Rosser S. DNA Chisel, a versatile sequence optimizer. Bioinformatics 2021; 36:4508-4509. [PMID: 32647895 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btaa558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2019] [Revised: 02/26/2020] [Accepted: 07/01/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
MOTIVATION Accounting for biological and practical requirements in DNA sequence design often results in challenging optimization problems. Current software solutions are problem-specific and hard to combine. RESULTS DNA Chisel is an easy-to-use, easy-to-extend sequence optimization framework allowing to freely define and combine optimization specifications via Python scripts or Genbank annotations. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION The framework is available as a web application (https://cuba.genomefoundry.org/sculpt_a_sequence) or open-source Python library (see at https://github.com/Edinburgh-Genome-Foundry/DNAChisel for code and documentation). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentin Zulkower
- Edinburgh Genome Foundry, SynthSys, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH93BF, UK
| | - Susan Rosser
- Edinburgh Genome Foundry, SynthSys, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH93BF, UK
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19
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Zhang J, Chen Y, Fu L, Guo E, Wang B, Dai L, Si T. Accelerating strain engineering in biofuel research via build and test automation of synthetic biology. Curr Opin Biotechnol 2021; 67:88-98. [PMID: 33508635 DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2021.01.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2020] [Revised: 01/07/2021] [Accepted: 01/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Biofuels are a type of sustainable and renewable energy. However, for the economical production of bulk-volume biofuels, biosystems design is particularly challenging to achieve sufficient yield, titer, and productivity. Because of the lack of predictive modeling, high-throughput screening remains essential. Recently established biofoundries provide an emerging infrastructure to accelerate biological design-build-test-learn (DBTL) cycles through the integration of robotics, synthetic biology, and informatics. In this review, we first introduce the technical advances of build and test automation in synthetic biology, focusing on the use of industry-standard microplates for DNA assembly, chassis engineering, and enzyme and strain screening. Proof-of-concept studies on prototypes of automated foundries are then discussed, for improving biomass deconstruction, metabolic conversion, and host robustness. We conclude with future challenges and opportunities in creating a flexible, versatile, and data-driven framework to support biofuel research and development in biofoundries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianzhi Zhang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Yongcan Chen
- CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Lihao Fu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Erpeng Guo
- CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Bo Wang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Lei Dai
- CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Tong Si
- CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China.
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20
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Setting Up an Automated Biomanufacturing Laboratory. Methods Mol Biol 2021; 2229:137-155. [PMID: 33405219 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1032-9_5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/29/2023]
Abstract
Laboratory automation is a key enabling technology for genetic engineering that can lead to higher throughput, more efficient and accurate experiments, better data management and analysis, decrease in the DBT (Design, Build, and Test) cycle turnaround, increase of reproducibility, and savings in lab resources. Choosing the correct framework among so many options available in terms of software, hardware, and skills needed to operate them is crucial for the success of any automation project. This chapter explores the multiple aspects to be considered for the solid development of a biofoundry project including available software and hardware tools, resources, strategies, partnerships, and collaborations in the field needed to speed up the translation of research results to solve important society problems.
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21
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Gilman J, Zulkower V, Menolascina F. Using a Design of Experiments Approach to Inform the Design of Hybrid Synthetic Yeast Promoters. Methods Mol Biol 2021; 2189:1-17. [PMID: 33180289 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0822-7_1] [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: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Hybrid promoter engineering takes advantage of the modular nature of eukaryotic promoters by combining discrete promoter motifs to confer novel regulatory function. By combinatorially screening sequence libraries for trans-acting transcriptional operators, activators, repressors and core promoter sequences, it is possible to derive constitutive or inducible promoter collections covering a broad range of expression strengths. However, combinatorial approaches to promoter design can result in highly complex, multidimensional design spaces, which can be experimentally costly to thoroughly explore in vivo. Here, we describe an in silico pipeline for the design of hybrid promoter libraries that employs a Design of Experiments (DoE) approach to reduce experimental burden and efficiently explore the promoter fitness landscape. We also describe a software pipeline to ensure that the designed promoter sequences are compatible with the YTK assembly standard.
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Affiliation(s)
- James Gilman
- Institute for Bioengineering, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Valentin Zulkower
- Edinburgh Genome Foundry, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Filippo Menolascina
- Institute for Bioengineering, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
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22
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Young R, Haines M, Storch M, Freemont PS. Combinatorial metabolic pathway assembly approaches and toolkits for modular assembly. Metab Eng 2020; 63:81-101. [PMID: 33301873 DOI: 10.1016/j.ymben.2020.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2020] [Revised: 11/16/2020] [Accepted: 12/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Synthetic Biology is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary field that is primarily built upon foundational advances in molecular biology combined with engineering design principles such as modularity and interoperability. The field considers living systems as programmable at the genetic level and has been defined by the development of new platform technologies and methodological advances. A key concept driving the field is the Design-Build-Test-Learn cycle which provides a systematic framework for building new biological systems. One major application area for synthetic biology is biosynthetic pathway engineering that requires the modular assembly of different genetic regulatory elements and biosynthetic enzymes. In this review we provide an overview of modular DNA assembly and describe and compare the plethora of in vitro and in vivo assembly methods for combinatorial pathway engineering. Considerations for part design and methods for enzyme balancing are also presented, and we briefly discuss alternatives to intracellular pathway assembly including microbial consortia and cell-free systems for biosynthesis. Finally, we describe computational tools and automation for pathway design and assembly and argue that a deeper understanding of the many different variables of genetic design, pathway regulation and cellular metabolism will allow more predictive pathway design and engineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rosanna Young
- Department of Infectious Disease, Sir Alexander Fleming Building, South Kensington Campus, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Matthew Haines
- Department of Infectious Disease, Sir Alexander Fleming Building, South Kensington Campus, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Marko Storch
- Department of Infectious Disease, Sir Alexander Fleming Building, South Kensington Campus, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ, UK; London Biofoundry, Imperial College Translation & Innovation Hub, London, W12 0BZ, UK
| | - Paul S Freemont
- Department of Infectious Disease, Sir Alexander Fleming Building, South Kensington Campus, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ, UK; London Biofoundry, Imperial College Translation & Innovation Hub, London, W12 0BZ, UK; UK DRI Care Research and Technology Centre, Imperial College London, Hammersmith Campus, Du Cane Road, London, W12 0NN, UK.
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23
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Yang X, Medford JI, Markel K, Shih PM, De Paoli HC, Trinh CT, McCormick AJ, Ployet R, Hussey SG, Myburg AA, Jensen PE, Hassan MM, Zhang J, Muchero W, Kalluri UC, Yin H, Zhuo R, Abraham PE, Chen JG, Weston DJ, Yang Y, Liu D, Li Y, Labbe J, Yang B, Lee JH, Cottingham RW, Martin S, Lu M, Tschaplinski TJ, Yuan G, Lu H, Ranjan P, Mitchell JC, Wullschleger SD, Tuskan GA. Plant Biosystems Design Research Roadmap 1.0. BIODESIGN RESEARCH 2020; 2020:8051764. [PMID: 37849899 PMCID: PMC10521729 DOI: 10.34133/2020/8051764] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2020] [Accepted: 10/30/2020] [Indexed: 10/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Human life intimately depends on plants for food, biomaterials, health, energy, and a sustainable environment. Various plants have been genetically improved mostly through breeding, along with limited modification via genetic engineering, yet they are still not able to meet the ever-increasing needs, in terms of both quantity and quality, resulting from the rapid increase in world population and expected standards of living. A step change that may address these challenges would be to expand the potential of plants using biosystems design approaches. This represents a shift in plant science research from relatively simple trial-and-error approaches to innovative strategies based on predictive models of biological systems. Plant biosystems design seeks to accelerate plant genetic improvement using genome editing and genetic circuit engineering or create novel plant systems through de novo synthesis of plant genomes. From this perspective, we present a comprehensive roadmap of plant biosystems design covering theories, principles, and technical methods, along with potential applications in basic and applied plant biology research. We highlight current challenges, future opportunities, and research priorities, along with a framework for international collaboration, towards rapid advancement of this emerging interdisciplinary area of research. Finally, we discuss the importance of social responsibility in utilizing plant biosystems design and suggest strategies for improving public perception, trust, and acceptance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaohan Yang
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
- The Center for Bioenergy Innovation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
| | - June I. Medford
- Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
| | - Kasey Markel
- Department of Plant Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Patrick M. Shih
- Department of Plant Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
- Feedstocks Division, Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Henrique C. De Paoli
- Department of Biodesign, Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Cong T. Trinh
- The Center for Bioenergy Innovation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
| | - Alistair J. McCormick
- SynthSys and Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3BF, UK
| | - Raphael Ployet
- Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
| | - Steven G. Hussey
- Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
| | - Alexander A. Myburg
- Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
| | - Poul Erik Jensen
- Department of Food Science, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 26, DK-1858, Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Md Mahmudul Hassan
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
- The Center for Bioenergy Innovation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
| | - Jin Zhang
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
- The Center for Bioenergy Innovation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
- State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, School of Forestry and Biotechnology, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 311300, China
| | - Wellington Muchero
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
- The Center for Bioenergy Innovation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
| | - Udaya C. Kalluri
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
- The Center for Bioenergy Innovation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
| | - Hengfu Yin
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 311400, China
| | - Renying Zhuo
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 311400, China
| | - Paul E. Abraham
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
- The Center for Bioenergy Innovation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
| | - Jin-Gui Chen
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
- The Center for Bioenergy Innovation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
| | - David J. Weston
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
- The Center for Bioenergy Innovation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
| | - Yinong Yang
- Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology and the Huck Institute of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Degao Liu
- Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, Center for Precision Plant Genomics and Center for Genome Engineering, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN 55108, USA
| | - Yi Li
- Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
| | - Jessy Labbe
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
- The Center for Bioenergy Innovation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
| | - Bing Yang
- Division of Plant Sciences, Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Jun Hyung Lee
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
| | | | - Stanton Martin
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
- The Center for Bioenergy Innovation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
| | - Mengzhu Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, School of Forestry and Biotechnology, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 311300, China
| | - Timothy J. Tschaplinski
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
- The Center for Bioenergy Innovation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
| | - Guoliang Yuan
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
- The Center for Bioenergy Innovation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
| | - Haiwei Lu
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
| | - Priya Ranjan
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
- The Center for Bioenergy Innovation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
| | - Julie C. Mitchell
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
| | - Stan D. Wullschleger
- Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
| | - Gerald A. Tuskan
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
- The Center for Bioenergy Innovation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
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24
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McLaughlin JA, Beal J, Mısırlı G, Grünberg R, Bartley BA, Scott-Brown J, Vaidyanathan P, Fontanarrosa P, Oberortner E, Wipat A, Gorochowski TE, Myers CJ. The Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL) Version 3: Simplified Data Exchange for Bioengineering. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2020; 8:1009. [PMID: 33015004 PMCID: PMC7516281 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2020.01009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2020] [Accepted: 07/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL) is a community-developed data standard that allows knowledge about biological designs to be captured using a machine-tractable, ontology-backed representation that is built using Semantic Web technologies. While early versions of SBOL focused only on the description of DNA-based components and their sub-components, SBOL can now be used to represent knowledge across multiple scales and throughout the entire synthetic biology workflow, from the specification of a single molecule or DNA fragment through to multicellular systems containing multiple interacting genetic circuits. The third major iteration of the SBOL standard, SBOL3, is an effort to streamline and simplify the underlying data model with a focus on real-world applications, based on experience from the deployment of SBOL in a variety of scientific and industrial settings. Here, we introduce the SBOL3 specification both in comparison to previous versions of SBOL and through practical examples of its use.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jacob Beal
- Raytheon BBN Technologies, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Göksel Mısırlı
- School of Mathematics and Computing, Keele University, Keele, United Kingdom
| | - Raik Grünberg
- Computational Bioscience Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
| | | | - James Scott-Brown
- Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | | | - Pedro Fontanarrosa
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
| | - Ernst Oberortner
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, DOE Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Anil Wipat
- School of Computing, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom
| | | | - Chris J Myers
- Department of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, United States
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25
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Doçi G, Fuchs L, Kharbanda Y, Schickling P, Zulkower V, Hillson N, Oberortner E, Swainston N, Kabisch J. DNA Scanner: a web application for comparing DNA synthesis feasibility, price and turnaround time across vendors. Synth Biol (Oxf) 2020. [DOI: 10.1093/synbio/ysaa011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
DNA synthesis has become a major enabler of modern bioengineering, allowing scientists to simply order online in silico-designed DNA molecules. Rapidly decreasing DNA synthesis service prices and the concomitant increase of research and development scales bolstered by computer-aided DNA design tools and laboratory automation has driven up the demand for synthetic DNA. While vendors provide user-friendly online portals for purchasing synthetic DNA, customers still face the time-consuming task of checking each vendor of choice for their ability and pricing to synthesize the desired sequences. As a result, ordering large batches of DNA sequences can be a laborious manual procedure in an otherwise increasingly automatable workflow. Even when they are available, there is a high degree of technical knowledge and effort required to integrate vendors’ application programming interfaces (APIs) into computer-aided DNA design tools or automated lab processes. Here, we introduce DNA Scanner, a software package comprising (i) a web-based user interface enabling users to compare the feasibility, price and turnaround time of synthetic DNA sequences across selected vendors and (ii) a Python API enabling integration of these functionalities into computer-aided DNA design tools and automated lab processes. We have developed DNA Scanner to uniformly streamline interactions between synthetic DNA vendors, members of the Global Biofoundry Alliance and the scientific community at large.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gledon Doçi
- Department of Computer Science, Technical University Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
| | - Lukas Fuchs
- Department of Computer Science, Technical University Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
| | - Yash Kharbanda
- Department of Computer Science, Technical University Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
| | - Paul Schickling
- Department of Computer Science, Technical University Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
| | - Valentin Zulkower
- Edinburgh Genome Foundry, SynthSys, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, EH9 3BF, Edinburgh, UK
- Software Working Group, Global Biofoundries Alliance
| | - Nathan Hillson
- Software Working Group, Global Biofoundries Alliance
- DOE Agile BioFoundry, Emeryville, CA 94608, USA
- DOE Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Biological Systems and Engineering, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Ernst Oberortner
- Software Working Group, Global Biofoundries Alliance
- DOE Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Divisions, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Neil Swainston
- Software Working Group, Global Biofoundries Alliance
- Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZB, UK
| | - Johannes Kabisch
- Software Working Group, Global Biofoundries Alliance
- Computer-aided Synthetic Biology, Technical University Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
- Centre for Synthetic Biology, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
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26
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Halper SM, Hossain A, Salis HM. Synthesis Success Calculator: Predicting the Rapid Synthesis of DNA Fragments with Machine Learning. ACS Synth Biol 2020; 9:1563-1571. [PMID: 32559378 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.9b00460] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The synthesis and assembly of long DNA fragments has greatly accelerated synthetic biology and biotechnology research. However, long turnaround times or synthesis failures create unpredictable bottlenecks in the design-build-test-learn cycle. We developed a machine learning model, called the Synthesis Success Calculator, to predict whether a long DNA fragment can be readily synthesized with a short turnaround time. The model also identifies the sequence determinants associated with the synthesis outcome. We trained a random forest classifier using biophysical features and a compiled data set of 1076 DNA fragment sequences to achieve high predictive performance (F1 score of 0.928 on 251 unseen sequences). Feature importance analysis revealed that repetitive DNA sequences were the most important contributor to synthesis failures. We then applied the Synthesis Success Calculator across large sequence data sets and found that 84.9% of the Escherichia coli MG1655 genome, but only 34.4% of sampled plasmids in NCBI, could be readily synthesized. Overall, the Synthesis Success Calculator can be applied on its own to prevent synthesis failures or embedded within optimization algorithms to design large genetic systems that can be rapidly synthesized and assembled.
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27
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Eiben CB, Tian T, Thompson MG, Mendez-Perez D, Kaplan N, Goyal G, Chiniquy J, Hillson NJ, Lee TS, Keasling JD. Adenosine Triphosphate and Carbon Efficient Route to Second Generation Biofuel Isopentanol. ACS Synth Biol 2020; 9:468-474. [PMID: 32149502 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.9b00402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Climate change necessitates the development of CO2 neutral or negative routes to chemicals currently produced from fossil carbon. In this paper we demonstrate a pathway from the renewable resource glucose to next generation biofuel isopentanol by pairing the isovaleryl-CoA biosynthesis pathway from Myxococcus xanthus and a butyryl-CoA reductase from Clostridium acetobutylicum. The best plasmid and Escherichia coli strain combination makes 80.50 ± 8.08 (SD) mg/L of isopentanol after 36 h under microaerobic conditions with an oleyl alcohol overlay. In addition, the system also shows a strong preference for isopentanol production over prenol in microaerobic conditions. Finally, the pathway requires zero adenosine triphosphate and can be paired theoretically with nonoxidative glycolysis, the combination being redox balanced from glucose thus avoiding unnecessary carbon loss as CO2. These pathway properties make the isovaleryl-CoA pathway an attractive isopentanol production route for further optimization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher B. Eiben
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94270, United States
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143, United States
| | - Tian Tian
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, California 94608, United States
- Biological Systems & Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Mitchell G. Thompson
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94270, United States
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, California 94608, United States
- Biological Systems & Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Daniel Mendez-Perez
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, California 94608, United States
- Biological Systems & Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Nurgul Kaplan
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, California 94608, United States
- Biological Systems & Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
- Agile BioFoundry, Emeryville, California 94608, United States
| | - Garima Goyal
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, California 94608, United States
- Biological Systems & Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
- Agile BioFoundry, Emeryville, California 94608, United States
| | - Jennifer Chiniquy
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, California 94608, United States
- Biological Systems & Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
- Agile BioFoundry, Emeryville, California 94608, United States
| | - Nathan J. Hillson
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, California 94608, United States
- Biological Systems & Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
- Agile BioFoundry, Emeryville, California 94608, United States
| | - Taek Soon Lee
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, California 94608, United States
- Biological Systems & Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Jay D. Keasling
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94270, United States
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94270, United States
- Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94270, United States
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, California 94608, United States
- Biological Systems & Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
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28
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Bartley BA, Beal J, Karr JR, Strychalski EA. Organizing genome engineering for the gigabase scale. Nat Commun 2020; 11:689. [PMID: 32019919 PMCID: PMC7000699 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14314-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2019] [Accepted: 12/18/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Genome-scale engineering holds great potential to impact science, industry, medicine, and society, and recent improvements in DNA synthesis have enabled the manipulation of megabase genomes. However, coordinating and integrating the workflows and large teams necessary for gigabase genome engineering remains a considerable challenge. We examine this issue and recommend a path forward by: 1) adopting and extending existing representations for designs, assembly plans, samples, data, and workflows; 2) developing new technologies for data curation and quality control; 3) conducting fundamental research on genome-scale modeling and design; and 4) developing new legal and contractual infrastructure to facilitate collaboration.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jacob Beal
- Raytheon BBN Technologies, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
| | - Jonathan R Karr
- Icahn Institute and Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, 10128, USA
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29
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Anandharaj M, Lin YJ, Rani RP, Nadendla EK, Ho MC, Huang CC, Cheng JF, Chang JJ, Li WH. Constructing a yeast to express the largest cellulosome complex on the cell surface. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:2385-2394. [PMID: 31953261 PMCID: PMC7007581 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1916529117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Cellulosomes, which are multienzyme complexes from anaerobic bacteria, are considered nature's finest cellulolytic machinery. Thus, constructing a cellulosome in an industrial yeast has long been a goal pursued by scientists. However, it remains highly challenging due to the size and complexity of cellulosomal genes. Here, we overcame the difficulties by synthesizing the Clostridium thermocellum scaffoldin gene (CipA) and the anchoring protein gene (OlpB) using advanced synthetic biology techniques. The engineered Kluyveromyces marxianus, a probiotic yeast, secreted a mixture of dockerin-fused fungal cellulases, including an endoglucanase (TrEgIII), exoglucanase (CBHII), β-glucosidase (NpaBGS), and cellulase boosters (TaLPMO and MtCDH). The confocal microscopy results confirmed the cell-surface display of OlpB-ScGPI and fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis results revealed that almost 81% of yeast cells displayed OlpB-ScGPI. We have also demonstrated the cellulosome complex formation using purified and crude cellulosomal proteins. Native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometric analysis further confirmed the cellulosome complex formation. Our engineered cellulosome can accommodate up to 63 enzymes, whereas the largest engineered cellulosome reported thus far could accommodate only 12 enzymes and was expressed by a plasmid instead of chromosomal integration. Interestingly, CipA 2B9C (with two cellulose binding modules, CBM) released significantly higher quantities of reducing sugars compared with other CipA variants, thus confirming the importance of cohesin numbers and CBM domain on cellulosome complex. The engineered yeast host efficiently degraded cellulosic substrates and released 3.09 g/L and 8.61 g/L of ethanol from avicel and phosphoric acid-swollen cellulose, respectively, which is higher than any previously constructed yeast cellulosome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marimuthu Anandharaj
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, 11529 Taipei, Taiwan
- Molecular and Biological Agricultural Sciences Program, Taiwan International Graduate Program, National Chung Hsing University and Academia Sinica, 11529 Taipei, Taiwan
- Graduate Institute of Biotechnology, National Chung Hsing University, 40227 Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Ju Lin
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, 11529 Taipei, Taiwan
| | | | | | - Meng-Chiao Ho
- Institute of Biological Chemistry, Academia Sinica, 11529 Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Chieh-Chen Huang
- Department of Life Sciences, National Chung Hsing University, 40227 Taichung, Taiwan
- Innovation and Development Center of Sustainable Agriculture, National Chung Hsing University, 40227 Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Jan-Fang Cheng
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Walnut Creek, CA 94598
| | - Jui-Jen Chang
- Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, China Medical University, 402 Taichung, Taiwan;
| | - Wen-Hsiung Li
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, 11529 Taipei, Taiwan;
- Molecular and Biological Agricultural Sciences Program, Taiwan International Graduate Program, National Chung Hsing University and Academia Sinica, 11529 Taipei, Taiwan
- Biotechnology Center, National Chung Hsing University, 40227 Taichung, Taiwan
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637
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30
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Abstract
There was an explosion in the amount of commercially available DNA in sequence repositories over the last decade. The number of such plasmids increased from 12,000 to over 300,000 among three of the largest repositories: iGEM, Addgene, and DNASU. A challenge in biodesign remains how to use these and other repository-based sequences effectively, correctly, and seamlessly. This work describes an approach to plasmid design where a plasmid is specified as simply a DNA sequence or list of features. The proposed software then finds the most cost-effective combination of synthetic and PCR-prepared repository fragments to build the plasmid via Gibson assembly®. It finds existing DNA sequences in both user-specified and public DNA databases: iGEM, Addgene, and DNASU. Such a software application is introduced and characterized against all post-2005 iGEM composite parts and all Addgene vectors submitted in 2018 and found to reduce costs by 34% versus a purely synthetic plasmid design approach. The described software will improve current plasmid assembly workflows by shortening design times, improving build quality, and reducing costs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua J. Timmons
- Lattice Automation Inc., Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Doug Densmore
- Lattice Automation Inc., Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Biological Design Center, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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31
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Engineered Root Bacteria Release Plant-Available Phosphate from Phytate. Appl Environ Microbiol 2019; 85:AEM.01210-19. [PMID: 31285192 PMCID: PMC6715853 DOI: 10.1128/aem.01210-19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2019] [Accepted: 06/23/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Phosphate fertilizers are essential for high-yield agriculture yet are costly and environmentally damaging. Microbes that release soluble phosphate from naturally occurring sources in the soil are appealing, as they may reduce the need for such fertilizers. In this study, we used synthetic biology approaches to create a collection of engineered root-associated microbes with the ability to release phosphate from phytate. We demonstrate that these strains improve plant growth under phosphorus-limited conditions. This represents a first step in the development of phosphate-mining bacteria for future use in crop systems. Microorganisms that release plant-available phosphate from natural soil phosphate stores may serve as biological alternatives to costly and environmentally damaging phosphate fertilizers. To explore this possibility, we engineered a collection of root bacteria to release plant-available orthophosphate from phytate, an abundant phosphate source in many soils. We identified 82 phylogenetically diverse phytase genes, refactored their sequences for optimal expression in Proteobacteria, and then synthesized and engineered them into the genomes of three root-colonizing bacteria. Liquid culture assays revealed 41 engineered strains with high levels of phytate hydrolysis. Among these, we identified 12 strains across three bacterial hosts that confer a growth advantage on the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana when phytate is the sole phosphate source. These data demonstrate that DNA synthesis approaches can be used to generate plant-associated strains with novel phosphate-solubilizing capabilities. IMPORTANCE Phosphate fertilizers are essential for high-yield agriculture yet are costly and environmentally damaging. Microbes that release soluble phosphate from naturally occurring sources in the soil are appealing, as they may reduce the need for such fertilizers. In this study, we used synthetic biology approaches to create a collection of engineered root-associated microbes with the ability to release phosphate from phytate. We demonstrate that these strains improve plant growth under phosphorus-limited conditions. This represents a first step in the development of phosphate-mining bacteria for future use in crop systems.
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32
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Roux S, Krupovic M, Daly RA, Borges AL, Nayfach S, Schulz F, Sharrar A, Matheus Carnevali PB, Cheng JF, Ivanova NN, Bondy-Denomy J, Wrighton KC, Woyke T, Visel A, Kyrpides NC, Eloe-Fadrosh EA. Cryptic inoviruses revealed as pervasive in bacteria and archaea across Earth's biomes. Nat Microbiol 2019; 4:1895-1906. [PMID: 31332386 PMCID: PMC6813254 DOI: 10.1038/s41564-019-0510-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 153] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2019] [Accepted: 06/05/2019] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Bacteriophages from the Inoviridae family (inoviruses) are characterized by their unique morphology, genome content and infection cycle. One of the most striking features of inoviruses is their ability to establish a chronic infection whereby the viral genome resides within the cell in either an exclusively episomal state or integrated into the host chromosome and virions are continuously released without killing the host. To date, a relatively small number of inovirus isolates have been extensively studied, either for biotechnological applications, such as phage display, or because of their effect on the toxicity of known bacterial pathogens including Vibrio cholerae and Neisseria meningitidis. Here, we show that the current 56 members of the Inoviridae family represent a minute fraction of a highly diverse group of inoviruses. Using a machine learning approach leveraging a combination of marker gene and genome features, we identified 10,295 inovirus-like sequences from microbial genomes and metagenomes. Collectively, our results call for reclassification of the current Inoviridae family into a viral order including six distinct proposed families associated with nearly all bacterial phyla across virtually every ecosystem. Putative inoviruses were also detected in several archaeal genomes, suggesting that, collectively, members of this supergroup infect hosts across the domains Bacteria and Archaea. Finally, we identified an expansive diversity of inovirus-encoded toxin–antitoxin and gene expression modulation systems, alongside evidence of both synergistic (CRISPR evasion) and antagonistic (superinfection exclusion) interactions with co-infecting viruses, which we experimentally validated in a Pseudomonas model. Capturing this previously obscured component of the global virosphere may spark new avenues for microbial manipulation approaches and innovative biotechnological applications. A machine learning approach was used to recover over 10,000 inovirus-like sequences from existing microbial genomes and metagenomes, consequently proposing the reclassification of the Inoviridae family to a viral order, and uncover the previously unrecognized diversity of these viruses across hosts and environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Roux
- DOE Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA, USA.
| | - Mart Krupovic
- Department of Microbiology, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
| | - Rebecca A Daly
- Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Adair L Borges
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | | | | | - Allison Sharrar
- Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | | | | | | | - Joseph Bondy-Denomy
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.,Quantitative Biosciences Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Kelly C Wrighton
- Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Tanja Woyke
- DOE Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA, USA
| | - Axel Visel
- DOE Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA, USA
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33
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Abstract
Information in public sequence databases on the genomes and metagenomes of microbes and plants has grown rapidly. In conjunction with technological developments in computational identification of biosynthetic gene clusters, molecular biology, synthetic biology, and analytical tools, this has revealed genes for enzymes with optimal and targeted function, as well as a rich pool of uncharacterized metabolic pathways. This chapter discusses different approaches to discovery of genes and metabolic pathways in microbes and plants in nature, such as genomic mining, transcriptome analysis, and metabolite profiling.
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34
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Rare earth element alcohol dehydrogenases widely occur among globally distributed, numerically abundant and environmentally important microbes. ISME JOURNAL 2019; 13:2005-2017. [PMID: 30952993 DOI: 10.1038/s41396-019-0414-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2019] [Revised: 03/21/2019] [Accepted: 03/24/2019] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Lanthanides (Ln3+), known as rare earth elements, have recently emerged as enzyme cofactors, contrary to prior assumption of their biological inertia. Several bacterial alcohol dehydrogenases have been characterized so far that depend on Ln3+ for activity and expression, belonging to the methanol dehydrogenase clade XoxF and the ethanol dehydrogenase clade ExaF/PedH. Here we compile an inventory of genes potentially encoding Ln3+-dependent enzymes, closely related to the previously characterized XoxF and ExaF/PedH enzymes. We demonstrate their wide distribution among some of the most numerically abundant and environmentally important taxa, such as the phylogenetically disparate rhizobial species and metabolically versatile bacteria inhabiting world's oceans, suggesting that reliance on Ln3+-mediated biochemistry is much more widespread in the microbial world than previously assumed. Through protein expression and analysis, we here more than double the extant collection of the biochemically characterized Ln3+-dependent enzymes, demonstrating a range of catalytic properties and substrate and cofactor specificities. Many of these enzymes reveal propensity for oxidation of methanol. This observation, in combination with genome-based reconstruction of methylotrophy pathways for select species suggests a much wider occurrence of this metabolic capability among bacterial species, and thus further suggests the importance of methylated compounds as parts of the global carbon cycling.
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35
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Coates RC, Bowen BP, Oberortner E, Thomashow L, Hadjithomas M, Zhao Z, Ke J, Silva L, Louie K, Wang G, Robinson D, Tarver A, Hamilton M, Lubbe A, Feltcher M, Dangl JL, Pati A, Weller D, Northen TR, Cheng JF, Mouncey NJ, Deutsch S, Yoshikuni Y. An integrated workflow for phenazine-modifying enzyme characterization. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2018; 45:567-577. [DOI: 10.1007/s10295-018-2025-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2017] [Accepted: 03/09/2018] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Abstract
Increasing availability of new genomes and putative biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) has extended the opportunity to access novel chemical diversity for agriculture, medicine, environmental and industrial purposes. However, functional characterization of BGCs through heterologous expression is limited because expression may require complex regulatory mechanisms, specific folding or activation. We developed an integrated workflow for BGC characterization that integrates pathway identification, modular design, DNA synthesis, assembly and characterization. This workflow was applied to characterize multiple phenazine-modifying enzymes. Phenazine pathways are useful for this workflow because all phenazines are derived from a core scaffold for modification by diverse modifying enzymes (PhzM, PhzS, PhzH, and PhzO) that produce characterized compounds. We expressed refactored synthetic modules of previously uncharacterized phenazine BGCs heterologously in Escherichia coli and were able to identify metabolic intermediates they produced, including a previously unidentified metabolite. These results demonstrate how this approach can accelerate functional characterization of BGCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Cameron Coates
- 0000 0004 0449 479X grid.451309.a US DOE Joint Genome Institute Walnut Creek CA USA
| | - Benjamin P Bowen
- 0000 0004 0449 479X grid.451309.a US DOE Joint Genome Institute Walnut Creek CA USA
- 0000 0001 2231 4551 grid.184769.5 Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley CA USA
| | - Ernst Oberortner
- 0000 0004 0449 479X grid.451309.a US DOE Joint Genome Institute Walnut Creek CA USA
| | - Linda Thomashow
- 0000 0001 2157 6568 grid.30064.31 USDA Agricultural Research Service, Wheat Health, Genetics and Quality Washington State University Pullman WA USA
- 0000 0001 2157 6568 grid.30064.31 Department of Plant Pathology Washington State University Pullman WA USA
| | - Michalis Hadjithomas
- 0000 0004 0449 479X grid.451309.a US DOE Joint Genome Institute Walnut Creek CA USA
| | - Zhiying Zhao
- 0000 0004 0449 479X grid.451309.a US DOE Joint Genome Institute Walnut Creek CA USA
| | - Jing Ke
- 0000 0004 0449 479X grid.451309.a US DOE Joint Genome Institute Walnut Creek CA USA
| | - Leslie Silva
- 0000 0004 0449 479X grid.451309.a US DOE Joint Genome Institute Walnut Creek CA USA
| | - Katherine Louie
- 0000 0004 0449 479X grid.451309.a US DOE Joint Genome Institute Walnut Creek CA USA
| | - Gaoyan Wang
- 0000 0004 0449 479X grid.451309.a US DOE Joint Genome Institute Walnut Creek CA USA
| | - David Robinson
- 0000 0004 0449 479X grid.451309.a US DOE Joint Genome Institute Walnut Creek CA USA
| | - Angela Tarver
- 0000 0004 0449 479X grid.451309.a US DOE Joint Genome Institute Walnut Creek CA USA
| | - Matthew Hamilton
- 0000 0004 0449 479X grid.451309.a US DOE Joint Genome Institute Walnut Creek CA USA
| | - Andrea Lubbe
- 0000 0001 2231 4551 grid.184769.5 Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley CA USA
| | - Meghan Feltcher
- 0000000122483208 grid.10698.36 Department of Biology University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill NC USA
| | - Jeffery L Dangl
- 0000000122483208 grid.10698.36 Department of Biology University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill NC USA
- 0000000122483208 grid.10698.36 Howard Hughes Medical Institute University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill NC USA
- 0000000122483208 grid.10698.36 Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill NC USA
- 0000000122483208 grid.10698.36 Department of Microbiology and Immunology University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill NC USA
- 0000000122483208 grid.10698.36 Carolina Center for Genome Sciences University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill NC USA
| | - Amrita Pati
- 0000 0004 0449 479X grid.451309.a US DOE Joint Genome Institute Walnut Creek CA USA
| | - David Weller
- 0000 0001 2157 6568 grid.30064.31 USDA Agricultural Research Service, Wheat Health, Genetics and Quality Washington State University Pullman WA USA
- 0000 0001 2157 6568 grid.30064.31 Department of Plant Pathology Washington State University Pullman WA USA
| | - Trent R Northen
- 0000 0004 0449 479X grid.451309.a US DOE Joint Genome Institute Walnut Creek CA USA
- 0000 0001 2231 4551 grid.184769.5 Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley CA USA
| | - Jan-Fang Cheng
- 0000 0004 0449 479X grid.451309.a US DOE Joint Genome Institute Walnut Creek CA USA
- 0000 0001 2231 4551 grid.184769.5 Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley CA USA
| | - Nigel J Mouncey
- 0000 0004 0449 479X grid.451309.a US DOE Joint Genome Institute Walnut Creek CA USA
| | - Samuel Deutsch
- 0000 0004 0449 479X grid.451309.a US DOE Joint Genome Institute Walnut Creek CA USA
- 0000 0001 2231 4551 grid.184769.5 Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley CA USA
- 0000 0001 2231 4551 grid.184769.5 Biological Systems and Engineering Division Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley CA USA
| | - Yasuo Yoshikuni
- 0000 0004 0449 479X grid.451309.a US DOE Joint Genome Institute Walnut Creek CA USA
- 0000 0001 2231 4551 grid.184769.5 Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley CA USA
- 0000 0001 2231 4551 grid.184769.5 Biological Systems and Engineering Division Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley CA USA
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36
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Casini A, Chang FY, Eluere R, King AM, Young EM, Dudley QM, Karim A, Pratt K, Bristol C, Forget A, Ghodasara A, Warden-Rothman R, Gan R, Cristofaro A, Borujeni AE, Ryu MH, Li J, Kwon YC, Wang H, Tatsis E, Rodriguez-Lopez C, O’Connor S, Medema MH, Fischbach MA, Jewett MC, Voigt C, Gordon DB. A Pressure Test to Make 10 Molecules in 90 Days: External Evaluation of Methods to Engineer Biology. J Am Chem Soc 2018; 140:4302-4316. [DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b13292] [Citation(s) in RCA: 97] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Arturo Casini
- The Foundry, 75 Ames Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
| | - Fang-Yuan Chang
- The Foundry, 75 Ames Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Synthetic Biology Center, Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States,
| | - Raissa Eluere
- The Foundry, 75 Ames Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
| | - Andrew M. King
- The Foundry, 75 Ames Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Synthetic Biology Center, Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States,
| | - Eric M. Young
- The Foundry, 75 Ames Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Synthetic Biology Center, Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States,
| | - Quentin M. Dudley
- The Foundry, 75 Ames Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
| | - Ashty Karim
- The Foundry, 75 Ames Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
| | - Katelin Pratt
- The Foundry, 75 Ames Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
| | - Cassandra Bristol
- The Foundry, 75 Ames Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
| | - Anthony Forget
- The Foundry, 75 Ames Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Synthetic Biology Center, Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States,
| | - Amar Ghodasara
- Synthetic Biology Center, Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States,
| | - Robert Warden-Rothman
- The Foundry, 75 Ames Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Synthetic Biology Center, Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States,
| | - Rui Gan
- The Foundry, 75 Ames Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
| | - Alexander Cristofaro
- The Foundry, 75 Ames Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Synthetic Biology Center, Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States,
| | - Amin Espah Borujeni
- The Foundry, 75 Ames Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Synthetic Biology Center, Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States,
| | - Min-Hyung Ryu
- Synthetic Biology Center, Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States,
| | - Jian Li
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
| | - Yong-Chan Kwon
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
| | - He Wang
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
| | - Evangelos Tatsis
- Department of Biological Chemistry, John Innes Centre, Norwich NR4 7UH, United Kingdom
| | | | - Sarah O’Connor
- Department of Biological Chemistry, John Innes Centre, Norwich NR4 7UH, United Kingdom
| | - Marnix H. Medema
- Bioinformatics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen 6708 PB, The Netherlands
| | - Michael A. Fischbach
- The Foundry, 75 Ames Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Department of Bioengineering and Chemistry, Engineering & Medicine for Human Health, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Michael C. Jewett
- The Foundry, 75 Ames Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
| | - Christopher Voigt
- The Foundry, 75 Ames Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Synthetic Biology Center, Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States,
| | - D. Benjamin Gordon
- The Foundry, 75 Ames Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Synthetic Biology Center, Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States,
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37
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Dossani ZY, Reider Apel A, Szmidt-Middleton H, Hillson NJ, Deutsch S, Keasling JD, Mukhopadhyay A. A combinatorial approach to synthetic transcription factor-promoter combinations for yeast strain engineering. Yeast 2017; 35:273-280. [PMID: 29084380 PMCID: PMC5873372 DOI: 10.1002/yea.3292] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2017] [Revised: 09/08/2017] [Accepted: 10/19/2017] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite the need for inducible promoters in strain development efforts, the majority of engineering in Saccharomyces cerevisiae continues to rely on a few constitutively active or inducible promoters. Building on advances that use the modular nature of both transcription factors and promoter regions, we have built a library of hybrid promoters that are regulated by a synthetic transcription factor. The hybrid promoters consist of native S. cerevisiae promoters, in which the operator regions have been replaced with sequences that are recognized by the bacterial LexA DNA binding protein. Correspondingly, the synthetic transcription factor (TF) consists of the DNA binding domain of the LexA protein, fused with the human estrogen binding domain and the viral activator domain, VP16. The resulting system with a bacterial DNA binding domain avoids the transcription of native S. cerevisiae genes, and the hybrid promoters can be induced using estradiol, a compound with no detectable impact on S. cerevisiae physiology. Using combinations of one, two or three operator sequence repeats and a set of native S. cerevisiae promoters, we obtained a series of hybrid promoters that can be induced to different levels, using the same synthetic TF and a given estradiol. This set of promoters, in combination with our synthetic TF, has the potential to regulate numerous genes or pathways simultaneously, to multiple desired levels, in a single strain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zain Y Dossani
- DOE Joint Bioenergy Institute, Emeryville, California, USA.,Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Amanda Reider Apel
- DOE Joint Bioenergy Institute, Emeryville, California, USA.,Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Heather Szmidt-Middleton
- DOE Joint Bioenergy Institute, Emeryville, California, USA.,Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Nathan J Hillson
- DOE Joint Bioenergy Institute, Emeryville, California, USA.,Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA.,DOE Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California, USA.,DOE Agile BioFoundry, Emeryville, California, USA
| | - Samuel Deutsch
- Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA.,DOE Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California, USA.,DOE Agile BioFoundry, Emeryville, California, USA
| | - Jay D Keasling
- DOE Joint Bioenergy Institute, Emeryville, California, USA.,Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA.,Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.,Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Building 220 Kemitorvet, 2800Kgs, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Aindrila Mukhopadhyay
- DOE Joint Bioenergy Institute, Emeryville, California, USA.,Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
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38
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Gach PC, Iwai K, Kim PW, Hillson NJ, Singh AK. Droplet microfluidics for synthetic biology. LAB ON A CHIP 2017; 17:3388-3400. [PMID: 28820204 DOI: 10.1039/c7lc00576h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary field that aims to engineer biological systems for useful purposes. Organism engineering often requires the optimization of individual genes and/or entire biological pathways (consisting of multiple genes). Advances in DNA sequencing and synthesis have recently begun to enable the possibility of evaluating thousands of gene variants and hundreds of thousands of gene combinations. However, such large-scale optimization experiments remain cost-prohibitive to researchers following traditional molecular biology practices, which are frequently labor-intensive and suffer from poor reproducibility. Liquid handling robotics may reduce labor and improve reproducibility, but are themselves expensive and thus inaccessible to most researchers. Microfluidic platforms offer a lower entry price point alternative to robotics, and maintain high throughput and reproducibility while further reducing operating costs through diminished reagent volume requirements. Droplet microfluidics have shown exceptional promise for synthetic biology experiments, including DNA assembly, transformation/transfection, culturing, cell sorting, phenotypic assays, artificial cells and genetic circuits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip C Gach
- Technology Division, DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, California 94608, USA
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39
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A standard-enabled workflow for synthetic biology. Biochem Soc Trans 2017; 45:793-803. [PMID: 28620041 DOI: 10.1042/bst20160347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2017] [Revised: 03/29/2017] [Accepted: 03/31/2017] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
A synthetic biology workflow is composed of data repositories that provide information about genetic parts, sequence-level design tools to compose these parts into circuits, visualization tools to depict these designs, genetic design tools to select parts to create systems, and modeling and simulation tools to evaluate alternative design choices. Data standards enable the ready exchange of information within such a workflow, allowing repositories and tools to be connected from a diversity of sources. The present paper describes one such workflow that utilizes, among others, the Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL) to describe genetic designs, the Systems Biology Markup Language to model these designs, and SBOL Visual to visualize these designs. We describe how a standard-enabled workflow can be used to produce types of design information, including multiple repositories and software tools exchanging information using a variety of data standards. Recently, the ACS Synthetic Biology journal has recommended the use of SBOL in their publications.
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40
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Genome Partitioner: A web tool for multi-level partitioning of large-scale DNA constructs for synthetic biology applications. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0177234. [PMID: 28531174 PMCID: PMC5439662 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0177234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2017] [Accepted: 04/24/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent advances in lower-cost DNA synthesis techniques have enabled new innovations in the field of synthetic biology. Still, efficient design and higher-order assembly of genome-scale DNA constructs remains a labor-intensive process. Given the complexity, computer assisted design tools that fragment large DNA sequences into fabricable DNA blocks are needed to pave the way towards streamlined assembly of biological systems. Here, we present the Genome Partitioner software implemented as a web-based interface that permits multi-level partitioning of genome-scale DNA designs. Without the need for specialized computing skills, biologists can submit their DNA designs to a fully automated pipeline that generates the optimal retrosynthetic route for higher-order DNA assembly. To test the algorithm, we partitioned a 783 kb Caulobacter crescentus genome design. We validated the partitioning strategy by assembling a 20 kb test segment encompassing a difficult to synthesize DNA sequence. Successful assembly from 1 kb subblocks into the 20 kb segment highlights the effectiveness of the Genome Partitioner for reducing synthesis costs and timelines for higher-order DNA assembly. The Genome Partitioner is broadly applicable to translate DNA designs into ready to order sequences that can be assembled with standardized protocols, thus offering new opportunities to harness the diversity of microbial genomes for synthetic biology applications. The Genome Partitioner web tool can be accessed at https://christenlab.ethz.ch/GenomePartitioner.
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