Efficient decoding of the UAG triplet as a full-fledged sense codon enhances the growth of a prfA-deficient strain of Escherichia coli

Minimizing the Anticodon-Recognized Loop of Methanococcus jannaschii Tyrosyl-tRNA Synthetase to Improve the Efficiency of Incorporating Noncanonical Amino Acids

In the field of genetic code expansion (GCE), improvements in the efficiency of noncanonical amino acid (ncAA) incorporation have received continuous attention. By analyzing the reported gene sequences of giant virus species, we noticed some sequence differences at the tRNA binding interface. On the basis of the structural and activity differences between Methanococcus jannaschii Tyrosyl-tRNA Synthetase (MjTyrRS) and mimivirus Tyrosyl-tRNA Synthetase (MVTyrRS), we found that the size of the anticodon-recognized loop of MjTyrRS influences its suppression activity regarding triplet and specific quadruplet codons. Therefore, three MjTyrRS mutants with loop minimization were designed. The suppression of wild-type MjTyrRS loop-minimized mutants increased by 1.8–4.3-fold, and the MjTyrRS variants enhanced the activity of the incorporation of ncAAs by 15–150% through loop minimization. In addition, for specific quadruplet codons, the loop minimization of MjTyrRS also improves the suppression efficiency. These results suggest that loop minimization of MjTyrRS may provide a general strategy for the efficient synthesis of ncAAs-containing proteins.

Expanding the chemical repertoire of protein-based polymers for drug-delivery applications

Expanding the chemical repertoire of natural and artificial protein-based polymers (PBPs) can enable the production of sequence-defined, yet chemically diverse, biopolymers with customized or new properties that cannot be accessed in PBPs composed of only natural amino acids. Various approaches can enable the expansion of the chemical repertoire of PBPs, including chemical and enzymatic treatments or the incorporation of unnatural amino acids. These techniques are employed to install a wide variety of chemical groups-such as bio-orthogonally reactive, cross-linkable, post-translation modifications, and environmentally responsive groups-which, in turn, can facilitate the design of customized PBP-based drug-delivery systems with modified, fine-tuned, or entirely new properties and functions. Here, we detail the existing and emerging technologies for expanding the chemical repertoire of PBPs and review several chemical groups that either demonstrate or are anticipated to show potential in the design of PBP-based drug delivery systems. Finally, we provide our perspective on the remaining challenges and future directions in this field.

Genome recoding strategies to improve cellular properties: mechanisms and advances

The genetic code, once believed to be universal and immutable, is now known to contain many variations and is not quite universal. The basis for genome recoding strategy is genetic code variation that can be harnessed to improve cellular properties. Thus, genome recoding is a promising strategy for the enhancement of genome flexibility, allowing for novel functions that are not commonly documented in the organism in its natural environment. Here, the basic concept of genetic code and associated mechanisms for the generation of genetic codon variants, including biased codon usage, codon reassignment, and ambiguous decoding, are extensively discussed. Knowledge of the concept of natural genetic code expansion is also detailed. The generation of recoded organisms and associated mechanisms with basic targeting components, including aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase-tRNA pairs, elongation factor EF-Tu and ribosomes, are highlighted for a comprehensive understanding of this concept. The research associated with the generation of diverse recoded organisms is also discussed. The success of genome recoding in diverse multicellular organisms offers a platform for expanding protein chemistry at the biochemical level with non-canonical amino acids, genetically isolating the synthetic organisms from the natural ones, and fighting viruses, including SARS-CoV2, through the creation of attenuated viruses. In conclusion, genome recoding can offer diverse applications for improving cellular properties in the genome-recoded organisms.

Emerging Methods for Efficient and Extensive Incorporation of Non-canonical Amino Acids Using Cell-Free Systems

Cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) has emerged as a novel protein expression platform. Especially the incorporation of non-canonical amino acids (ncAAs) has led to the development of numerous flexible methods for efficient and extensive expression of artificial proteins. Approaches were developed to eliminate the endogenous competition for ncAAs and engineer translation factors, which significantly enhanced the incorporation efficiency. Furthermore, in vitro aminoacylation methods can be conveniently combined with cell-free systems, extensively expanding the available ncAAs with novel and unique moieties. In this review, we summarize the recent progresses on the efficient and extensive incorporation of ncAAs by different strategies based on the elimination of competition by endogenous factors, translation factors engineering and extensive incorporation of novel ncAAs coupled with in vitro aminoacylation methods in CFPS. We also aim to offer new ideas to researchers working on ncAA incorporation techniques in CFPS and applications in various emerging fields.

Expression of authentic post-translationally modified proteins in organisms with expanded genetic codes

Cellular signaling and regulatory cascades often rely on post-translational modification of proteins, particularly phosphorylation, to quickly and effectively relay signals from a variety of inputs. Numerous kinases, the effectors of phosphorylation, and kinase networks have been implicated in human diseases. Until recently, an inability to produce high yields of physiologically phosphorylated proteins has proven to be a substantial barrier toward our understanding of many enzymatic processes. Orthogonal translation systems provide the means to overcome many of these limitations by enabling site-specific incorporation of phosphorylated amino acids into recombinantly expressed proteins. Site-by-site, combinatorial assessment of phosphorylation site function is unique to orthogonal translation system based approaches and offers unmatched precision in the study of PTM-enzymology, extending well beyond the scope of kinase biology.

Site-Specific Incorporation of Unnatural Amino Acids into Escherichia coli Recombinant Protein: Methodology Development and Recent Achievement

More than two decades ago a general method to genetically encode noncanonical or unnatural amino acids (NAAs) with diverse physical, chemical, or biological properties in bacteria, yeast, animals and mammalian cells was developed. More than 200 NAAs have been incorporated into recombinant proteins by means of non-endogenous aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (aa-RS)/tRNA pair, an orthogonal pair, that directs site-specific incorporation of NAA encoded by a unique codon. The most established method to genetically encode NAAs in Escherichia coli is based on the usage of the desired mutant of Methanocaldococcus janaschii tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase (MjTyrRS) and cognate suppressor tRNA. The amber codon, the least-used stop codon in E. coli, assigns NAA. Until very recently the genetic code expansion technology suffered from a low yield of targeted proteins due to both incompatibilities of orthogonal pair with host cell translational machinery and the competition of suppressor tRNA with release factor (RF) for binding to nonsense codons. Here we describe the latest progress made to enhance nonsense suppression in E. coli with the emphasis on the improved expression vectors encoding for an orthogonal aa-RA/tRNA pair, enhancement of aa-RS and suppressor tRNA efficiency, the evolution of orthogonal EF-Tu and attempts to reduce the effect of RF1.

Incorporation of non-standard amino acids into proteins: challenges, recent achievements, and emerging applications

The natural genetic code only allows for 20 standard amino acids in protein translation, but genetic code reprogramming enables the incorporation of non-standard amino acids (NSAAs). Proteins containing NSAAs provide enhanced or novel properties and open diverse applications. With increased attention to the recent advancements in synthetic biology, various improved and novel methods have been developed to incorporate single and multiple distinct NSAAs into proteins. However, various challenges remain in regard to NSAA incorporation, such as low yield and misincorporation. In this review, we summarize the recent efforts to improve NSAA incorporation by utilizing orthogonal translational system optimization, cell-free protein synthesis, genomically recoded organisms, artificial codon boxes, quadruplet codons, and orthogonal ribosomes, before closing with a discussion of the emerging applications of NSAA incorporation.

Translational Control using an Expanded Genetic Code

A bio-orthogonal and unnatural substance, such as an unnatural amino acid (Uaa), is an ideal regulator to control target gene expression in a synthetic gene circuit. Genetic code expansion technology has achieved Uaa incorporation into ribosomal synthesized proteins in vivo at specific sites designated by UAG stop codons. This site-specific Uaa incorporation can be used as a controller of target gene expression at the translational level by conditional read-through of internal UAG stop codons. Recent advances in optimization of site-specific Uaa incorporation for translational regulation have enabled more precise control over a wide range of novel important applications, such as Uaa-auxotrophy-based biological containment, live-attenuated vaccine, and high-yield zero-leakage expression systems, in which Uaa translational control is exclusively used as an essential genetic element. This review summarizes the history and recent advance of the translational control by conditional stop codon read-through, especially focusing on the methods using the site-specific Uaa incorporation.

Auxotrophy to Xeno-DNA: an exploration of combinatorial mechanisms for a high-fidelity biosafety system for synthetic biology applications

BACKGROUND

Biosafety is a key aspect in the international Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition, which offers student teams an amazing opportunity to pursue their own research projects in the field of Synthetic Biology. iGEM projects often involve the creation of genetically engineered bacterial strains. To minimize the risks associated with bacterial release, a variety of biosafety systems were constructed, either to prevent survival of bacteria outside the lab or to hinder horizontal or vertical gene transfer.

MAIN BODY

Physical containment methods such as bioreactors or microencapsulation are considered the first safety level. Additionally, various systems involving auxotrophies for both natural and synthetic compounds have been utilized by iGEM teams in recent years. Combinatorial systems comprising multiple auxotrophies have been shown to reduced escape frequencies below the detection limit. Furthermore, a number of natural toxin-antitoxin systems can be deployed to kill cells under certain conditions. Additionally, parts of naturally occurring toxin-antitoxin systems can be used for the construction of 'kill switches' controlled by synthetic regulatory modules, allowing control of cell survival. Kill switches prevent cell survival but do not completely degrade nucleic acids. To avoid horizontal gene transfer, multiple mechanisms to cleave nucleic acids can be employed, resulting in 'self-destruction' of cells. Changes in light or temperature conditions are powerful regulators of gene expression and could serve as triggers for kill switches or self-destruction systems. Xenobiology-based containment uses applications of Xeno-DNA, recoded codons and non-canonical amino acids to nullify the genetic information of constructed cells for wild type organisms. A 'minimal genome' approach brings the opportunity to reduce the genome of a cell to only genes necessary for survival under lab conditions. Such cells are unlikely to survive in the natural environment and are thus considered safe hosts. If suitable for the desired application, a shift to cell-free systems based on Xeno-DNA may represent the ultimate biosafety system.

CONCLUSION

Here we describe different containment approaches in synthetic biology, ranging from auxotrophies to minimal genomes, which can be combined to significantly improve reliability. Since the iGEM competition greatly increases the number of people involved in synthetic biology, we will focus especially on biosafety systems developed and applied in the context of the iGEM competition.

Genetically encoded amino acids with tert-butyl and trimethylsilyl groups for site-selective studies of proteins by NMR spectroscopy

The amino acids 4-(tert-butyl)phenylalanine (Tbf) and 4-(trimethylsilyl)phenylalanine (TMSf), as well as a partially deuterated version of Tbf (dTbf), were chemically synthesized and site-specifically incorporated into different proteins, using an amber stop codon, suppressor tRNA and the broadband aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase originally evolved for the incorporation of p-cyano-phenylalanine. The ¹H-NMR signals of the tert-butyl and TMS groups were compared to the ¹H-NMR signal of tert-butyltyrosine (Tby) in protein systems with molecular weights ranging from 8 to 54 kDa. The ¹H-NMR resonance of the TMS group appeared near 0 ppm in a spectral region with few protein resonances, facilitating the observation of signal changes in response to ligand binding. In all proteins, the R ₂ relaxation rate of the tert-butyl group of Tbf was only little greater than that of Tby (less than two-fold). Deuteration of the phenyl ring of Tbf made only a relatively small difference. The effective T ₂ relaxation time of the TMS signal was longer than 140 ms even in the 54 kDa system.

Chemically-defined lactose-based autoinduction medium for site-specific incorporation of non-canonical amino acids into proteins

Genetic code expansion technology enables the site-specific incorporation of dozens of non-canonical amino acids (NCAAs) into proteins expressed in live cells. The NCAAs can introduce various chemical functionalities into proteins, ranging from natural post-translational modifications, to spectroscopic probes and chemical handles for bioorthogonal reactions. These chemical groups provide powerful tools for structural, biochemical, and biophysical studies, which may require significant quantities of recombinantly expressed proteins. NCAAs are usually encoded by an in-frame stop codon, such as the TAG (amber) stop codon, which leads to the expression of C-terminally truncated proteins. In addition, the incubation medium should be supplemented with the NCAA at a final concentration of 1-10 mM, which may be challenging when the availability of the NCAA is limited. Hence, bacterial expression of proteins carrying NCAAs can benefit from improvement in protein yield per given amount of added NCAA. Here, we demonstrate the applicability of an optimized chemically-defined lactose-based autoinduction (AI) medium to the expression of proteins carrying a NCAA, using the archaeal pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase/tRNA pair from the Methanosarcina genus. Per given amount of added NCAA, the use of AI medium improved protein expression levels by up to 3-fold, compared to IPTG induction, without an increase in misincorporation of canonical amino acids in response to the in-frame stop codon. The suggested medium composition can be used with various Escherichia coli variants transformed with different expression vectors and incubated at different temperatures.

Performance of optimized noncanonical amino acid mutagenesis systems in the absence of release factor 1

Site-specific incorporation of noncanonical amino acids (ncAAs) into proteins expressed in E. coli using UAG-suppression competes with termination mediated by release factor 1 (RF1). Recently, unconditional deletion of RF1 was achieved in a genomically recoded E. coli (C321), devoid of all endogenous UAG stop codons. Here we evaluate the efficiency of ncAA incorporation in this strain using optimized suppression vectors. Even though the absence of RF1 does not benefit the suppression efficiency of a single UAG codon, multi-site incorporation of a series of chemically distinct ncAAs was significantly improved.

Rewriting the Genetic Code

The genetic code-the language used by cells to translate their genomes into proteins that perform many cellular functions-is highly conserved throughout natural life. Rewriting the genetic code could lead to new biological functions such as expanding protein chemistries with noncanonical amino acids (ncAAs) and genetically isolating synthetic organisms from natural organisms and viruses. It has long been possible to transiently produce proteins bearing ncAAs, but stabilizing an expanded genetic code for sustained function in vivo requires an integrated approach: creating recoded genomes and introducing new translation machinery that function together without compromising viability or clashing with endogenous pathways. In this review, we discuss design considerations and technologies for expanding the genetic code. The knowledge obtained by rewriting the genetic code will deepen our understanding of how genomes are designed and how the canonical genetic code evolved.

Translation system engineering in Escherichia coli enhances non-canonical amino acid incorporation into proteins

The ability to site-specifically incorporate non-canonical amino acids (ncAAs) into proteins has made possible the study of protein structure and function in fundamentally new ways, as well as the bio synthesis of unnatural polymers. However, the task of site-specifically incorporating multiple ncAAs into proteins with high purity and yield continues to present a challenge. At the heart of this challenge lies the lower efficiency of engineered orthogonal translation system components compared to their natural counterparts (e.g., translation elements that specifically use a ncAA and do not interact with the cell's natural translation apparatus). Here, we show that evolving and tuning expression levels of multiple components of an engineered translation system together as a whole enhances ncAA incorporation efficiency. Specifically, we increase protein yield when incorporating multiple p-azido-phenylalanine(pAzF) residues into proteins by (i) evolving the Methanocaldococcus jannaschii p-azido-phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase anti-codon binding domain, (ii) evolving the elongation factor Tu amino acid-binding pocket, and (iii) tuning the expression of evolved translation machinery components in a single vector. Use of the evolved translation machinery in a genomically recoded organism lacking release factor one enabled enhanced multi-site ncAA incorporation into proteins. We anticipate that our approach to orthogonal translation system development will accelerate and expand our ability to site-specifically incorporate multiple ncAAs into proteins and biopolymers, advancing new horizons for synthetic and chemical biotechnology. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 1074-1086. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Cell-Free Synthetic Biology: Engineering Beyond the Cell

Cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) technologies have enabled inexpensive and rapid recombinant protein expression. Numerous highly active CFPS platforms are now available and have recently been used for synthetic biology applications. In this review, we focus on the ability of CFPS to expand our understanding of biological systems and its applications in the synthetic biology field. First, we outline a variety of CFPS platforms that provide alternative and complementary methods for expressing proteins from different organisms, compared with in vivo approaches. Next, we review the types of proteins, protein complexes, and protein modifications that have been achieved using CFPS systems. Finally, we introduce recent work on genetic networks in cell-free systems and the use of cell-free systems for rapid prototyping of in vivo networks. Given the flexibility of cell-free systems, CFPS holds promise to be a powerful tool for synthetic biology as well as a protein production technology in years to come.

Probing unnatural amino acid integration into enhanced green fluorescent protein by genetic code expansion with a high-throughput screening platform

BACKGROUND

Genetic code expansion has developed into an elegant tool to incorporate unnatural amino acids (uAA) at predefined sites in the protein backbone in response to an amber codon. However, recombinant production and yield of uAA comprising proteins are challenged due to the additional translation machinery required for uAA incorporation.

RESULTS

We developed a microtiter plate-based high-throughput monitoring system (HTMS) to study and optimize uAA integration in the model protein enhanced green fluorescence protein (eGFP). Two uAA, propargyl-L-lysine (Plk) and (S)-2-amino-6-((2-azidoethoxy) carbonylamino) hexanoic acid (Alk), were incorporated at the same site into eGFP co-expressing the native PylRS/tRNAPylCUA pair originating from Methanosarcina barkeri in E. coli. The site-specific uAA functionalization was confirmed by LC-MS/MS analysis. uAA-eGFP production and biomass growth in parallelized E. coli cultivations was correlated to (i) uAA concentration and the (ii) time of uAA addition to the expression medium as well as to induction parameters including the (iii) time and (iv) amount of IPTG supplementation. The online measurements of the HTMS were consolidated by end point-detection using standard enzyme-linked immunosorbent procedures.

CONCLUSION

The developed HTMS is powerful tool for parallelized and rapid screening. In light of uAA integration, future applications may include parallelized screening of different PylRS/tRNAPylCUA pairs as well as further optimization of culture conditions.

Emergent rules for codon choice elucidated by editing rare arginine codons in Escherichia coli

The degeneracy of the genetic code allows nucleic acids to encode amino acid identity as well as noncoding information for gene regulation and genome maintenance. The rare arginine codons AGA and AGG (AGR) present a case study in codon choice, with AGRs encoding important transcriptional and translational properties distinct from the other synonymous alternatives (CGN). We created a strain of Escherichia coli with all 123 instances of AGR codons removed from all essential genes. We readily replaced 110 AGR codons with the synonymous CGU codons, but the remaining 13 "recalcitrant" AGRs required diversification to identify viable alternatives. Successful replacement codons tended to conserve local ribosomal binding site-like motifs and local mRNA secondary structure, sometimes at the expense of amino acid identity. Based on these observations, we empirically defined metrics for a multidimensional "safe replacement zone" (SRZ) within which alternative codons are more likely to be viable. To evaluate synonymous and nonsynonymous alternatives to essential AGRs further, we implemented a CRISPR/Cas9-based method to deplete a diversified population of a wild-type allele, allowing us to evaluate exhaustively the fitness impact of all 64 codon alternatives. Using this method, we confirmed the relevance of the SRZ by tracking codon fitness over time in 14 different genes, finding that codons that fall outside the SRZ are rapidly depleted from a growing population. Our unbiased and systematic strategy for identifying unpredicted design flaws in synthetic genomes and for elucidating rules governing codon choice will be crucial for designing genomes exhibiting radically altered genetic codes.

CRISPRi-Manipulation of Genetic Code Expansion via RF1 for Reassignment of Amber Codon in Bacteria

The precise engineering of proteins in bacteria via the amber codon has been hampered by the poor incorporation of unnatural amino acid (UAA). Here we explored the amber assignment as a sense codon for UAA by CRISPRi targeting release factor 1 (RF1). Scanning of RF1 gene with sgRNAs identified target loci that differentiate RF1 repressions. Quantitation of RF1 repressions versus UAA incorporation indicated an increasing interrelation with the amber reassignment maximized upon RF1 knockdown to ~30%, disclosing the beneficial role of RF1 in amber assignment. However, further RF1 repression reversed this trend resulting from the detrimental effects on host cell growth, disclosing the harmful aspect of RF1 in reassignment of the amber codon. Our data indicate RF1 as a switch manipulating genetic code expansion and pave a direction via CRISPRi for precise engineering and efficient production of proteins in bacteria.

Reassignment of a rare sense codon to a non-canonical amino acid in Escherichia coli

The immutability of the genetic code has been challenged with the successful reassignment of the UAG stop codon to non-natural amino acids in Escherichia coli. In the present study, we demonstrated the in vivo reassignment of the AGG sense codon from arginine to L-homoarginine. As the first step, we engineered a novel variant of the archaeal pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase (PylRS) able to recognize L-homoarginine and L-N(6)-(1-iminoethyl)lysine (L-NIL). When this PylRS variant or HarRS was expressed in E. coli, together with the AGG-reading tRNA(Pyl) CCU molecule, these arginine analogs were efficiently incorporated into proteins in response to AGG. Next, some or all of the AGG codons in the essential genes were eliminated by their synonymous replacements with other arginine codons, whereas the majority of the AGG codons remained in the genome. The bacterial host's ability to translate AGG into arginine was then restricted in a temperature-dependent manner. The temperature sensitivity caused by this restriction was rescued by the translation of AGG to L-homoarginine or L-NIL. The assignment of AGG to L-homoarginine in the cells was confirmed by mass spectrometric analyses. The results showed the feasibility of breaking the degeneracy of sense codons to enhance the amino-acid diversity in the genetic code.

Highly reproductive Escherichia coli cells with no specific assignment to the UAG codon

Escherichia coli is a widely used host organism for recombinant technology, and the bacterial incorporation of non-natural amino acids promises the efficient synthesis of proteins with novel structures and properties. In the present study, we developed E. coli strains in which the UAG codon was reserved for non-natural amino acids, without compromising the reproductive strength of the host cells. Ninety-five of the 273 UAG stop codons were replaced synonymously in the genome of E. coli BL21(DE3), by exploiting the oligonucleotide-mediated base-mismatch-repair mechanism. This genomic modification allowed the safe elimination of the UAG-recognizing cellular component (RF-1), thus leaving the remaining 178 UAG codons with no specific molecule recognizing them. The resulting strain B-95.ΔA grew as vigorously as BL21(DE3) in rich medium at 25-42°C, and its derivative B-95.ΔAΔfabR was better adapted to low temperatures and minimal media than B-95.ΔA. UAG was reassigned to synthetic amino acids by expressing the specific pairs of UAG-reading tRNA and aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase. Due to the preserved growth vigor, the B-95.ΔA strains showed superior productivities for hirudin molecules sulfonated on a particular tyrosine residue, and the Fab fragments of Herceptin containing multiple azido groups.

Improving cell-free protein synthesis through genome engineering of Escherichia coli lacking release factor 1

Site-specific incorporation of non-standard amino acids (NSAAs) into proteins opens the way to novel biological insights and applications in biotechnology. Here, we describe the development of a high yielding cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) platform for NSAA incorporation from crude extracts of genomically recoded Escherichia coli lacking release factor 1. We used genome engineering to construct synthetic organisms that, upon cell lysis, lead to improved extract performance. We targeted five potential negative effectors to be disabled: the nuclease genes rna, rnb, csdA, mazF, and endA. Using our most productive extract from strain MCJ.559 (csdA(-) endA(-)), we synthesized 550±40 μg mL(-1) of modified superfolder green fluorescent protein containing p-acetyl-L-phenylalanine. This yield was increased to ∼1300 μg mL(-1) when using a semicontinuous method. Our work has implications for using whole genome editing for CFPS strain development, expanding the chemistry of biological systems, and cell-free synthetic biology.

Revealing the amino acid composition of proteins within an expanded genetic code

The genetic code can be manipulated to reassign codons for the incorporation of non-standard amino acids (NSAA). Deletion of release factor 1 in Escherichia coli enhances translation of UAG (Stop) codons, yet may also extended protein synthesis at natural UAG terminated messenger RNAs. The fidelity of protein synthesis at reassigned UAG codons and the purity of the NSAA containing proteins produced require careful examination. Proteomics would be an ideal tool for these tasks, but conventional proteomic analyses cannot readily identify the extended proteins and accurately discover multiple amino acid (AA) insertions at a single UAG. To address these challenges, we created a new proteomic workflow that enabled the detection of UAG readthrough in native proteins in E. coli strains in which UAG was reassigned to encode phosphoserine. The method also enabled quantitation of NSAA and natural AA incorporation at UAG in a recombinant reporter protein. As a proof-of-principle, we measured the fidelity and purity of the phosphoserine orthogonal translation system (OTS) and used this information to improve its performance. Our results show a surprising diversity of natural AAs at reassigned stop codons. Our method can be used to improve OTSs and to quantify amino acid purity at reassigned codons in organisms with expanded genetic codes.

Wheat germ systems for cell-free protein expression

Cell-free protein expression plays an important role in biochemical research. However, only recent developments led to new methods to rapidly synthesize preparative amounts of protein that make cell-free protein expression an attractive alternative to cell-based methods. In particular the wheat germ system provides the highest translation efficiency among eukaryotic cell-free protein expression approaches and has a very high success rate for the expression of soluble proteins of good quality. As an open in vitro method, the wheat germ system is a preferable choice for many applications in protein research including options for protein labeling and the expression of difficult-to-express proteins like membrane proteins and multiple protein complexes. Here I describe wheat germ cell-free protein expression systems and give examples how they have been used in genome-wide expression studies, preparation of labeled proteins for structural genomics and protein mass spectroscopy, automated protein synthesis, and screening of enzymatic activities. Future directions for the use of cell-free expression methods are discussed.

Non-standard amino acid incorporation into proteins using Escherichia coli cell-free protein synthesis

Incorporating non-standard amino acids (NSAAs) into proteins enables new chemical properties, new structures, and new functions. In recent years, improvements in cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) systems have opened the way to accurate and efficient incorporation of NSAAs into proteins. The driving force behind this development has been three-fold. First, a technical renaissance has enabled high-yielding (>1 g/L) and long-lasting (>10 h in batch operation) CFPS in systems derived from Escherichia coli. Second, the efficiency of orthogonal translation systems (OTSs) has improved. Third, the open nature of the CFPS platform has brought about an unprecedented level of control and freedom of design. Here, we review recent developments in CFPS platforms designed to precisely incorporate NSAAs. In the coming years, we anticipate that CFPS systems will impact efforts to elucidate structure/function relationships of proteins and to make biomaterials and sequence-defined biopolymers for medical and industrial applications.

Expanded cellular amino acid pools containing phosphoserine, phosphothreonine, and phosphotyrosine

Adding nonstandard amino acids to the genetic code of E. coli expands the chemical and biological functional space for proteins. This is accomplished with engineered, orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase and tRNA pairs that require a nonstandard amino acid in sufficient intracellular quantities to support protein synthesis. While cotranslational insertion of phosphoserine into proteins has been accomplished, conditions that modulate intracellular phosphoamino acid concentrations are still poorly understood. Here we used genetic and metabolic engineering to increase the free intracellular levels of phosphoserine in E. coli. We show that deletion of the phosphoserine phosphatase serB elevates the intracellular levels of phosphoserine within ranges comparable to those of standard amino acids. These new conditions improved insertion of phosphoserine into recombinant proteins. Surprisingly, we also observed dramatic increases in intracellular levels of phosphothreonine and phosphotyrosine when WT cells were grown in LB with supplemented phosphothreonine and serB deficient cells were grown in low phosphate media with supplemented phosphotyrosine, respectively. These findings remove a major barrier for further expansion of the genetic code with additional phosphorylated amino acids.

Expanding and reprogramming the genetic code of cells and animals

Genetic code expansion and reprogramming enable the site-specific incorporation of diverse designer amino acids into proteins produced in cells and animals. Recent advances are enhancing the efficiency of unnatural amino acid incorporation by creating and evolving orthogonal ribosomes and manipulating the genome. Increasing the number of distinct amino acids that can be site-specifically encoded has been facilitated by the evolution of orthogonal quadruplet decoding ribosomes and the discovery of mutually orthogonal synthetase/tRNA pairs. Rapid progress in moving genetic code expansion from bacteria to eukaryotic cells and animals (C. elegans and D. melanogaster) and the incorporation of useful unnatural amino acids has been aided by the development and application of the pyrrolysyl-transfer RNA (tRNA) synthetase/tRNA pair for unnatural amino acid incorporation. Combining chemoselective reactions with encoded amino acids has facilitated the installation of posttranslational modifications, as well as rapid derivatization with diverse fluorophores for imaging.

Bacteriophages use an expanded genetic code on evolutionary paths to higher fitness

Bioengineering advances have made it possible to fundamentally alter the genetic codes of organisms. However, the evolutionary consequences of expanding an organism's genetic code with a non-canonical amino acid are poorly understood. Here we show that bacteriophages evolved on a host that incorporates 3-iodotyrosine at the amber stop codon acquired neutral and beneficial mutations to this new amino acid in their proteins, demonstrating that an expanded genetic code increases evolvability.

Genomically recoded organisms expand biological functions

We describe the construction and characterization of a genomically recoded organism (GRO). We replaced all known UAG stop codons in Escherichia coli MG1655 with synonymous UAA codons, which permitted the deletion of release factor 1 and reassignment of UAG translation function. This GRO exhibited improved properties for incorporation of nonstandard amino acids that expand the chemical diversity of proteins in vivo. The GRO also exhibited increased resistance to T7 bacteriophage, demonstrating that new genetic codes could enable increased viral resistance.

Genetically encoded libraries of nonstandard peptides

The presence of a nonproteinogenic moiety in a nonstandard peptide often improves the biological properties of the peptide. Non-standard peptide libraries are therefore used to obtain valuable molecules for biological, therapeutic, and diagnostic applications. Highly diverse non-standard peptide libraries can be generated by chemically or enzymatically modifying standard peptide libraries synthesized by the ribosomal machinery, using posttranslational modifications. Alternatively, strategies for encoding non-proteinogenic amino acids into the genetic code have been developed for the direct ribosomal synthesis of non-standard peptide libraries. In the strategies for genetic code expansion, non-proteinogenic amino acids are assigned to the nonsense codons or 4-base codons in order to add these amino acids to the universal genetic code. In contrast, in the strategies for genetic code reprogramming, some proteinogenic amino acids are erased from the genetic code and non-proteinogenic amino acids are reassigned to the blank codons. Here, we discuss the generation of genetically encoded non-standard peptide libraries using these strategies and also review recent applications of these libraries to the selection of functional non-standard peptides.

Enhanced phosphoserine insertion during Escherichia coli protein synthesis via partial UAG codon reassignment and release factor 1 deletion

Genetically encoded phosphoserine incorporation programmed by the UAG codon was achieved by addition of engineered elongation factor and an archaeal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase to the normal Escherichia coli translation machinery (Park et al., 2011) Science 333, 1151). However, protein yield suffers from expression of the orthogonal phosphoserine translation system and competition with release factor 1 (RF-1). In a strain lacking RF-1, phosphoserine phosphatase, and where seven UAG codons residing in essential genes were converted to UAA, phosphoserine incorporation into GFP and WNK4 was significantly elevated, but with an accompanying loss in cellular fitness and viability.