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Chan DTC, Bernstein HC. Pangenomic landscapes shape performances of a synthetic genetic circuit across Stutzerimonas species. mSystems 2024:e0084924. [PMID: 39166875 DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00849-24] [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: 06/28/2024] [Accepted: 07/18/2024] [Indexed: 08/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Engineering identical genetic circuits into different species typically results in large differences in performance due to the unique cellular environmental context of each host, a phenomenon known as the "chassis-effect" or "context-dependency". A better understanding of how genomic and physiological contexts underpin the chassis-effect will improve biodesign strategies across diverse microorganisms. Here, we combined a pangenomic-based gene expression analysis with quantitative measurements of performance from an engineered genetic inverter device to uncover how genome structure and function relate to the observed chassis-effect across six closely related Stutzerimonas hosts. Our results reveal that genome architecture underpins divergent responses between our chosen non-model bacterial hosts to the engineered device. Specifically, differential expression of the core genome, gene clusters shared between all hosts, was found to be the main source of significant concordance to the observed differential genetic device performance, whereas specialty genes from respective accessory genomes were not significant. A data-driven investigation revealed that genes involved in denitrification and components of trans-membrane transporter proteins were among the most differentially expressed gene clusters between hosts in response to the genetic device. Our results show that the chassis-effect can be traced along differences among the most conserved genome-encoded functions and that these differences create a unique biodesign space among closely related species.IMPORTANCEContemporary synthetic biology endeavors often default to a handful of model organisms to host their engineered systems. Model organisms such as Escherichia coli serve as attractive hosts due to their tractability but do not necessarily provide the ideal environment to optimize performance. As more novel microbes are domesticated for use as biotechnology platforms, synthetic biologists are urged to explore the chassis-design space to optimize their systems and deliver on the promises of synthetic biology. The consequences of the chassis-effect will therefore only become more relevant as the field of biodesign grows. In our work, we demonstrate that the performance of a genetic device is highly dependent on the host environment it operates within, promoting the notion that the chassis can be considered a design variable to tune circuit function. Importantly, our results unveil that the chassis-effect can be traced along similarities in genome architecture, specifically the shared core genome. Our study advocates for the exploration of the chassis-design space and is a step forward to empowering synthetic biologists with knowledge for more efficient exploration of the chassis-design space to enable the next generation of broad-host-range synthetic biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dennis Tin Chat Chan
- Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Hans C Bernstein
- Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
- The Arctic Centre for Sustainable Energy, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
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Chan DTC, Baldwin GS, Bernstein HC. Revealing the Host-Dependent Nature of an Engineered Genetic Inverter in Concordance with Physiology. BIODESIGN RESEARCH 2023; 5:0016. [PMID: 37849456 PMCID: PMC10432152 DOI: 10.34133/bdr.0016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2023] [Accepted: 07/17/2023] [Indexed: 10/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Broad-host-range synthetic biology is an emerging frontier that aims to expand our current engineerable domain of microbial hosts for biodesign applications. As more novel species are brought to "model status," synthetic biologists are discovering that identically engineered genetic circuits can exhibit different performances depending on the organism it operates within, an observation referred to as the "chassis effect." It remains a major challenge to uncover which genome-encoded and biological determinants will underpin chassis effects that govern the performance of engineered genetic devices. In this study, we compared model and novel bacterial hosts to ask whether phylogenomic relatedness or similarity in host physiology is a better predictor of genetic circuit performance. This was accomplished using a comparative framework based on multivariate statistical approaches to systematically demonstrate the chassis effect and characterize the performance dynamics of a genetic inverter circuit operating within 6 Gammaproteobacteria. Our results solidify the notion that genetic devices are strongly impacted by the host context. Furthermore, we formally determined that hosts exhibiting more similar metrics of growth and molecular physiology also exhibit more similar performance of the genetic inverter, indicating that specific bacterial physiology underpins measurable chassis effects. The result of this study contributes to the field of broad-host-range synthetic biology by lending increased predictive power to the implementation of genetic devices in less-established microbial hosts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dennis Tin Chat Chan
- Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, 9019 Tromsø, Norway
| | - Geoff S. Baldwin
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, UK
- Imperial College Centre for Synthetic Biology, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Hans C. Bernstein
- Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, 9019 Tromsø, Norway
- The Arctic Centre for Sustainable Energy, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, 9019 Tromsø, Norway
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de Siqueira GMV, Guazzaroni ME. Host-Dependent Improvement of GFP Expression in Pseudomonas putida KT2440 Using Terminators of Metagenomic Origin. ACS Synth Biol 2023; 12:1562-1566. [PMID: 37126733 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.3c00098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Transcriptional terminators are key players in the flow of genetic information, but are often overlooked in circuit design. In this work, we used the Standard European Vector Architecture (SEVA) as a scaffold to investigate the effects of different terminators in the output of a reporter construct expressed in two bacterial species, and found that replacing the conventional T1 and T0 transcriptional terminators of the SEVA vector format with a set of broad-host metagenomic terminators resulted in a significant improvement in the signal of a fluorescent device in Pseudomonas putida KT2440 but not in Escherichia coli DH10B. Our results suggest that replacing the default set of terminators present in the SEVA specification may be an useful strategy for fine-tuning circuit expression in P. putida, which can be leveraged for the development of new devices with improved performance in this microbial host.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - María-Eugenia Guazzaroni
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters at Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirao Preto 14040-901, Brazil
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Chen Y, Liu L, Yu S, Li J, Zhou J, Chen J. Identification of Gradient Promoters of Gluconobacter oxydans and Their Applications in the Biosynthesis of 2-Keto-L-Gulonic Acid. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2021; 9:673844. [PMID: 33898410 PMCID: PMC8064726 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2021.673844] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2021] [Accepted: 03/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The acetic acid bacterium Gluconobacter oxydans is known for its unique incomplete oxidation and therefore widely applied in the industrial production of many compounds, e.g., 2-keto-L-gulonic acid (2-KLG), the direct precursor of vitamin C. However, few molecular tools are available for metabolically engineering G. oxydans, which greatly limit the strain development. Promoters are one of vital components to control and regulate gene expression at the transcriptional level for boosting production. In this study, the low activity of SDH was found to hamper the high yield of 2-KLG, and enhancing the expression of SDH was achieved by screening the suitable promoters based on RNA sequencing data. We obtained 97 promoters from G. oxydans’s genome, including two strong shuttle promoters and six strongest promoters. Among these promoters, P3022 and P0943 revealed strong activities in both Escherichia coli and G. oxydans, and the activity of the strongest promoter (P2703) was about threefold that of the other reported strong promoters of G. oxydans. These promoters were used to overexpress SDH in G. oxydans WSH-003. The titer of 2-KLG reached 3.7 g/L when SDH was under the control of strong promoters P2057 and P2703. This study obtained a series of gradient promoters, including two strong shuttle promoters, and expanded the toolbox of available promoters for the application in metabolic engineering of G. oxydans for high-value products.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue Chen
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education and School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,Science Center for Future Foods, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,Jiangsu Provisional Research Center for Bioactive Product Processing Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Li Liu
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education and School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,Jiangsu Provisional Research Center for Bioactive Product Processing Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Shiqin Yu
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education and School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,Science Center for Future Foods, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,Jiangsu Provisional Research Center for Bioactive Product Processing Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Jianghua Li
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education and School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,Science Center for Future Foods, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Jingwen Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education and School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,Jiangsu Provisional Research Center for Bioactive Product Processing Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Jian Chen
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education and School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
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Tas H, Goñi-Moreno Á, Lorenzo VD. A Standardized Inverter Package Borne by Broad Host Range Plasmids for Genetic Circuit Design in Gram-Negative Bacteria. ACS Synth Biol 2021; 10:213-217. [PMID: 33336567 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.0c00529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Genetically encoded logic gates, especially inverters-NOT gates-are the building blocks for designing circuits, engineering biosensors, or decision-making devices in synthetic biology. However, the repertoire of inverters readily available for different species is rather limited. In this work, a large whole of NOT gates that was shown to function previously in a specific strain of Escherichia coli, was recreated as broad host range (BHR) collection of constructs assembled in low, medium, and high copy number plasmid backbones of the SEVA (Standard European Vector Architecture) collection. The input/output function of each of the gates was characterized and parametrized in the environmental bacterium and metabolic engineering chassis Pseudomonas putida. Comparisons of the resulting fluorescence cytometry data with those published for the same gates in Escherichia coli provided useful hints on the portability of the corresponding gates. The hereby described inverter package (20 different versions of 12 distinct gates) borne by BHR plasmids thus becomes a toolbox of choice for designing genetic circuitries in a variety of Gram-negative species other than E. coli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huseyin Tas
- Systems Biology Department, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología-CSIC, Campus de Cantoblanco, Madrid, 28049, Spain
| | - Ángel Goñi-Moreno
- School of Computing, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE4 5TG, U.K
- Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Centro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas (CBGP, UPM-INIA), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Campus de Montegancedo-UPM, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, 28223, Spain
| | - Víctor de Lorenzo
- Systems Biology Department, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología-CSIC, Campus de Cantoblanco, Madrid, 28049, Spain
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