Synthetic Control of Metabolic States in Pseudomonas putida by Tuning Polyhydroxyalkanoate Cycle

A model-driven approach to upcycling recalcitrant feedstocks in Pseudomonas putida by decoupling PHA production from nutrient limitation

Bacterial polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) have emerged as promising eco-friendly alternatives to petroleum-based plastics since they are synthesized from renewable resources and offer exceptional properties. However, their production is limited to the stationary growth phase under nutrient-limited conditions, requiring customized strategies and costly two-phase bioprocesses. In this study, we tackle these challenges by employing a model-driven approach to reroute carbon flux and remove regulatory constraints using synthetic biology. We construct a collection of Pseudomonas putida-overproducing strains at the expense of plastics and lignin-related compounds using growth-coupling approaches. PHA production was successfully achieved during growth phase, resulting in the production of up to 46% PHA/cell dry weight while maintaining a balanced carbon-to-nitrogen ratio. Our strains are additionally validated under an upcycling scenario using enzymatically hydrolyzed polyethylene terephthalate as a feedstock. These findings have the potential to revolutionize PHA production and address the global plastic crisis by overcoming the complexities of traditional PHA production bioprocesses.

Recombinant Pseudomonas growing on non-natural fluorinated substrates shows stress but overall tolerance to cytoplasmically released fluoride anion

IMPORTANCE

Society uses thousands of organofluorine compounds, sometimes denoted per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), in hundreds of products, but recent studies have shown some to manifest human and environmental health effects. As a class, they are recalcitrant to biodegradation, partly due to the paucity of fluorinated natural products to which microbes have been exposed. Another limit to PFAS biodegradation is the intracellular toxicity of fluoride anion generated from C-F bond cleavage. The present study identified a broader substrate specificity in an enzyme originally studied for its activity on the natural product fluoroacetate. A recombinant Pseudomonas expressing this enzyme was used here as a model system to better understand the limits and effects of a high level of intracellular fluoride generation. A fluoride stress response has evolved in bacteria and has been described in Pseudomonas spp. The present study is highly relevant to organofluorine compound degradation or engineered biosynthesis in which fluoride anion is a substrate.

Heterologous constitutive production of short-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates in Pseudomonas putida KT2440: the involvement of IbpA inclusion body protein

Designing cell factories for the production of novel polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) via smart metabolic engineering is key to obtain à la carte materials with tailored physicochemical properties. To this end, we used the model medium-chain-length-PHA producing bacterium, P. putida KT2440 as a chassis, which is characterized by its metabolic versatility and stress tolerance. Different PHA biosynthetic modules were assembled in expression plasmids using the Golden gate/MoClo modular assembly technique to implement an orthogonal short-chain-lengh-PHA (scl-PHA) switch in a "deaf" PHA mutant. This was specifically constructed to override endogenous multilevel regulation of PHA synthesis in the native strain. We generated a panel of engineered approaches carrying the genes from Rhodospirillum rubrum, Cupriavidus necator and Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes, demonstrating that diverse scl-PHAs can be constitutively produced in the chassis strain to varying yields from 23% to 84% PHA/CDW. Co-feeding assays of the most promising engineered strain harboring the PHA machinery from C. necator resulted to a panel of PHBV from 0.6% to 19% C5 monomeric incorporation. Chromosomally integrated PHA machineries with high PhaCCn synthase dosage successfully resulted in 68% PHA/CDW production. Interestingly, an inverse relationship between PhaC synthase dosage and granule size distribution was demonstrated in the heterologous host. In this vein, it is proposed the key involvement of inclusion body protein IbpA to the heterologous production of tailored PHA in P. putida KT2440.

β-oxidation-polyhydroxyalkanoates synthesis relationship in Pseudomonas putida KT2440 revisited

Pseudomonas putida KT2440 is a well-known model organism for the medium-chain-length (mcl) polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) accumulation. (R)-Specific enoyl-coenzyme A hydratase (PhaJ) was considered to be the main supplier of monomers for PHA synthesis by converting the β-oxidation intermediate, trans-2-enoyl-CoA to (R)-3-hydroxyacyl-CoA when fatty acids (FA) are used. Three PhaJ homologues, PhaJ1, PhaJ4 and MaoC, are annotated in P. putida KT2440. To investigate the relationship of fatty acids-PHA metabolism and the role of each PhaJ in PHA biosynthesis in P. putida KT2440, a series of P. putida KT2440 knockouts was obtained. PHA content and monomer composition in wild type (WT) and mutants under different growth conditions were analysed. PhaJ4 was the main monomer supplier for PHA synthesis with FA as sole carbon and energy source, with preference towards C8 and C10 substrate, whereas PhaJ1 showed preference for the C6 substrate. However, when all three PhaJ homologues were deleted, the mutant still accumulated PHA up to 10.7% of the cell dry weight (CDW). The deletion of (R)-3-hydroxydecanoyl-ACP:CoA transacylase (PhaG), which connects de novo FA and PHA synthesis pathways, while causing a further 1.8-fold decrease in PHA content, did not abolish PHA accumulation. Further proteome analysis revealed quinoprotein alcohol dehydrogenases PedE and PedH as potential monomer suppliers, but when these were deleted, the PHA level remained at 2.2-14.8% CDW depending on the fatty acid used and whether nitrogen limitation was applied. Therefore, it is likely that some other non-specific dehydrogenases supply monomers for PHA synthesis, demonstrating the redundancy of PHA metabolism. KEY POINTS: • β-oxidation intermediates are converted to PHA monomers by hydratases PhaJ1, PhaJ4 and MaoC in Pseudomonas putida KT2440. • When these are deleted, the PHA level decreases, but it is not abolished. • PHA non-specific enzyme(s) also contributes to PHA metabolism in KT2440.

The Role of Bacterial Polyhydroalkanoate (PHA) in a Sustainable Future: A Review on the Biological Diversity

Environmental challenges related to the mismanagement of plastic waste became even more evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. The need for new solutions regarding the use of plastics came to the forefront again. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) have demonstrated their ability to replace conventional plastics, especially in packaging. Its biodegradability and biocompatibility makes this material a sustainable solution. The cost of PHA production and some weak physical properties compared to synthetic polymers remain as the main barriers to its implementation in the industry. The scientific community has been trying to solve these disadvantages associated with PHA. This review seeks to frame the role of PHA and bioplastics as substitutes for conventional plastics for a more sustainable future. It is focused on the bacterial production of PHA, highlighting the current limitations of the production process and, consequently, its implementation in the industry, as well as reviewing the alternatives to turn the production of bioplastics into a sustainable and circular economy.

Tuning a high performing multiplexed-CRISPRi Pseudomonas putida strain to further enhance indigoidine production

In this study, a 14-gene edited Pseudomonas putida KT2440 strain for heterologous indigoidine production was examined using three distinct omic datasets. Transcriptomic data indicated that CRISPR/dCpf1-interference (CRISPRi) mediated multiplex repression caused global gene expression changes, implying potential undesirable changes in metabolic flux. ¹³C-metabolic flux analysis (¹³C-MFA) revealed that the core P. putida flux network after CRISPRi repression was conserved, with moderate reduction of TCA cycle and pyruvate shunt activity along with glyoxylate shunt activation during glucose catabolism. Metabolomic results identified a change in intracellular TCA metabolites and extracellular metabolite secretion profiles (sugars and succinate overflow) in the engineered strains. These omic analyses guided further strain engineering, with a random mutagenesis screen first identifying an optimal ribosome binding site (RBS) for Cpf1 that enabled stronger product-substrate pairing (1.6-fold increase). Then, deletion strains were constructed with excision of the PHA operon (ΔphaAZC-IID) resulting in a 2.2-fold increase in indigoidine titer over the optimized Cpf1-RBS construct at the end of the growth phase (∼6 h). The maximum indigoidine titer (at 72 h) in the ΔphaAZC-IID strain had a 1.5-fold and 1.8-fold increase compared to the optimized Cpf1-RBS construct and the original strain, respectively. Overall, this study demonstrated that integration of omic data types is essential for understanding responses to complex metabolic engineering designs and directly quantified the effect of such modifications on central metabolism.

Strain-specific predation of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus on Pseudomonas aeruginosa with a higher range for cystic fibrosis than for bacteremia isolates

This work aimed to evaluate the predatory activity of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus 109J on clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa selected from well-characterized collections of cystic fibrosis (CF) lung colonization (n = 30) and bloodstream infections (BSI) (n = 48) including strains selected by genetic lineage (frequent and rare sequence types), antibiotic resistance phenotype (susceptible and multidrug-resistant isolates), and colony phenotype (mucoid and non-mucoid isolates). The intraspecies predation range (I-PR) was defined as the proportion of susceptible strains within the entire collection. In contrast, the predation efficiency (PE) is the ratio of viable prey cells remaining after predation compared to the initial inoculum. I-PR was significantly higher for CF (67%) than for BSI P. aeruginosa isolates (35%) probably related to an environmental origin of CF strains whereas invasive strains are more adapted to humans. I-PR correlation with bacterial features such as mucoid morphotype, genetic background, or antibiotic susceptibility profile was not detected. To test the possibility of increasing I-PR of BSI isolates, a polyhydroxyalkanoate depolymerase deficient B. bacteriovorus bd2637 mutant was used. Global median I-PR and PE values remained constant for both predators, but 31.2% of 109J-resistant isolates were susceptible to the mutant, and 22.9% of 109J-susceptible isolates showed resistance to predation by the mutant, pointing to a predator–prey specificity process. The potential use of predators in the clinical setting should be based on the determination of the I-PR for each species, and the PE of each particular target strain.