Development and characterization of Escherichia coli triple reporter strains for investigation of population heterogeneity in bioprocesses

Giving the cells what they need when they need it: Biosensor-based feeding control

"Giving the cells exactly what they need, when they need it" is the core idea behind the proposed bioprocess control strategy: operating bioprocess based on the physiological behavior of the microbial population rather than exclusive monitoring of environmental parameters. We are envisioning to achieve this through the use of genetically encoded biosensors combined with online flow cytometry (FCM) to obtain a time-dependent "physiological fingerprint" of the population. We developed a biosensor based on the glnA promoter (glnAp) and applied it for monitoring the nitrogen-related nutritional state of Escherichia coli. The functionality of the biosensor was demonstrated through multiple cultivation runs performed at various scales-from microplate to 20 L bioreactor. We also developed a fully automated bioreactor-FCM interface for on-line monitoring of the microbial population. Finally, we validated the proposed strategy by performing a fed-batch experiment where the biosensor signal is used as the actuator for a nitrogen feeding feedback control. This new generation of process control, -based on the specific needs of the cells, -opens the possibility of improving process development on a short timescale and therewith, the robustness and performance of fermentation processes.

Advances in automated and reactive flow cytometry for synthetic biotechnology

Automated flow cytometry (FC) has been initially considered for bioprocess monitoring and optimization. More recently, new physical and software interfaces have been made available, facilitating the access to this technology for labs and industries. It also comes with new capabilities, such as being able to act on the cultivation conditions based on population data. This approach, known as reactive FC, extended the range of applications of automated FC to bioprocess control and the stabilization of cocultures, but also to the broad field of synthetic and systems biology for the characterization of gene circuits. However, several issues must be addressed before automated and reactive FC can be considered standard and modular technologies.

Impact of mixing insufficiencies on L-phenylalanine production with an Escherichia coli reporter strain in a novel two-compartment bioreactor

BACKGROUND

The omnipresence of population heterogeneity in industrial bioprocesses originates from prevailing dynamic bioprocess conditions, which promote differences in the expression of cellular characteristics. Despite the awareness, the concrete consequences of this phenomenon remain poorly understood.

RESULTS

Therefore, for the first time, a L-phenylalanine overproducing Escherichia coli quadruple reporter strain was established for monitoring of general stress response, growth behavior, oxygen limitation and product formation of single cells based on mTagBFP2, mEmerald, CyOFP1, and mCardinal2 expression measured by flow cytometry. This strain was applied for the fed-batch production of L-phenylalanine from glycerol and ammonia in a stirred-tank bioreactor at homogeneous conditions compared to the same process in a novel two-compartment bioreactor. This two-compartment bioreactor consists of a stirred-tank bioreactor with an initial volume of 0.9 L (homogeneous zone) with a coiled flow inverter with a fixed working volume of 0.45 L as a bypass (limitation zone) operated at a mean hydraulic residence time of 102 s. The product formation was similar in both bioreactor setups with maximum L-phenylalanine concentrations of 21.1 ± 0.6 g L-1 demonstrating the consistency of this study's microbial L-phenylalanine production. However, cell growth was vulnerable to repetitive exposure to the dynamically changing conditions in the two-compartment bioreactor with maximum biomass yields reduced by 21%. The functionality of reporter molecules was approved in the stirred-tank bioreactor cultivation, in which expressed fluorescence levels of all four markers were in accordance with respective process state variables. Additional evaluation of the distributions on single-cell level revealed the presence of population heterogeneity in both bioprocesses. Especially for the marker of the general stress response and the product formation, the corresponding histograms were characterized by bimodal shapes and broad distributions. These phenomena were pronounced particularly at the beginning and the end of the fed-batch process.

CONCLUSIONS

The here shown findings confirm multiple reporter strains to be a noninvasive tool for monitoring cellular characteristics and identifying potential subpopulations in bioprocesses. In combination with experiments in scale-down setups, these can be utilized for a better physiological understanding of bioprocesses and support future scale-up procedures.

Influence of Varying Pre-Culture Conditions on the Level of Population Heterogeneity in Batch Cultures with an Escherichia coli Triple Reporter Strain

When targeting robust, high-yielding bioprocesses, phenomena such as population heterogeneity have to be considered. Therefore, the influence of the conditions which the cells experience prior to the main culture should also be evaluated. Here, the influence of a pre-culture medium (complex vs. minimal medium), optical density for inoculation of the main culture (0.005, 0.02 and 0.0125) and harvest time points of the pre-culture in exponential growth phase (early, mid and late) on the level of population heterogeneity in batch cultures of the Escherichia coli triple reporter strain G7_BL21(DE3) in stirred-tank bioreactors was studied. This strain allows monitoring the growth (rrnB-EmGFP), general stress response (rpoS-mStrawberry) and oxygen limitation (nar-TagRFP657) of single cells through the expression of fluorescent proteins. Data from batch cultivations with varying pre-culture conditions were analysed with principal component analysis. According to fluorescence data, the pre-culture medium had the largest impact on population heterogeneities during the bioprocess. While a minimal medium as a pre-culture medium elevated the differences in cellular growth behaviour in the subsequent batch process, a complex medium increased the general stress response and led to a higher population heterogeneity. The latter was promoted by an early harvest of the cells with low inoculation density. Seemingly, nar-operon expression acted independently of the pre-culture conditions.

Digital models in biotechnology: Towards multi-scale integration and implementation

Industrial biotechnology encompasses a large area of multi-scale and multi-disciplinary research activities. With the recent megatrend of digitalization sweeping across all industries, there is an increased focus in the biotechnology industry on developing, integrating and applying digital models to improve all aspects of industrial biotechnology. Given the rapid development of this field, we systematically classify the state-of-art modelling concepts applied at different scales in industrial biotechnology and critically discuss their current usage, advantages and limitations. Further, we critically analyzed current strategies to couple cell models with computational fluid dynamics to study the performance of industrial microorganisms in large-scale bioprocesses, which is of crucial importance for the bio-based production industries. One of the most challenging aspects in this context is gathering intracellular data under industrially relevant conditions. Towards comprehensive models, we discuss how different scale-down concepts combined with appropriate analytical tools can capture intracellular states of single cells. We finally illustrated how the efforts could be used to develop digitals models suitable for both cell factory design and process optimization at industrial scales in the future.

Visualizing the pH in Escherichia coli Colonies via the Sensor Protein mCherryEA Allows High-Throughput Screening of Mutant Libraries

Cytoplasmic pH in bacteria is tightly regulated by diverse active mechanisms and interconnected regulatory processes. Many processes and regulators underlying pH homeostasis have been identified via phenotypic screening of strain libraries for nongrowth at low or high pH values. Direct screens with respect to changes of the internal pH in mutant strain collections are limited by laborious methods, which include fluorescent dyes and radioactive probes. Genetically encoded biosensors equip single organisms or strain libraries with an internal sensor molecule during the generation of the strain. Here, we used the pH-sensitive mCherry variant mCherryEA as a ratiometric pH biosensor. We visualized the internal pH of Escherichia coli colonies on agar plates by the use of a GelDoc imaging system. Combining this imaging technology with robot-assisted colony picking and spotting allowed us to screen and select mutants with altered internal pH values from a small transposon mutagenesis-derived E. coli library. Identification of the transposon (Tn) insertion sites in strains with altered internal pH levels revealed that the transposon was inserted into trkH (encoding a transmembrane protein of the potassium uptake system) or rssB (encoding the adaptor protein RssB, which mediates the proteolytic degradation of the general stress response regulator RpoS), two genes known to be associated with pH homeostasis and pH stress adaptation. This successful screening approach demonstrates that the pH sensor-based analysis of arrayed colonies on agar plates is a sensitive approach for the rapid identification of genes involved in pH homeostasis or pH stress adaptation in E. coli.

IMPORTANCE Phenotypic screening of strain libraries on agar plates has become a versatile tool to understand gene functions and to optimize biotechnological platform organisms. Screening is supported by genetically encoded biosensors that allow to easily measure intracellular processes. For this purpose, transcription factor-based biosensors have emerged as the sensor type of choice. Here, the target stimulus initiates the activation of a response gene (e.g., a fluorescent protein), followed by transcription, translation, and maturation. Due to this mechanistic principle, biosensor readouts are delayed and cannot report the actual intracellular state of the cell in real time. To capture rapid intracellular processes adequately, fluorescent reporter proteins are extensively applied. However, these sensor types have not previously been used for phenotypic screenings. To take advantage of their properties, we established here an imaging method that allows application of a rapid ratiometric sensor protein for assessing the internal pH of colonies in a high-throughput manner.

Division of labor and collective functionality in Escherichia coli under acid stress

The acid stress response is an important factor influencing the transmission of intestinal microbes such as the enterobacterium Escherichia coli. E. coli activates three inducible acid resistance systems - the glutamate decarboxylase, arginine decarboxylase, and lysine decarboxylase systems to counteract acid stress. Each system relies on the activity of a proton-consuming reaction catalyzed by a specific amino acid decarboxylase and a corresponding antiporter. Activation of these three systems is tightly regulated by a sophisticated interplay of membrane-integrated and soluble regulators. Using a fluorescent triple reporter strain, we quantitatively illuminated the cellular individuality during activation of each of the three acid resistance (AR) systems under consecutively increasing acid stress. Our studies highlight the advantages of E. coli in possessing three AR systems that enable division of labor in the population, which ensures survival over a wide range of low pH values.

Advances in automated real-time flow cytometry for monitoring of bioreactor processes

Flow cytometry and its technological possibilities have greatly advanced in the past decade as analysis tool for single cell properties and population distributions of different cell types in bioreactors. Along the way, some solutions for automated real-time flow cytometry (ART-FCM) were developed for monitoring of bioreactor processes without operator interference over extended periods with variable sampling frequency. However, there is still great potential for ART-FCM to evolve and possibly become a standard application in bioprocess monitoring and process control. This review first addresses different components of an ART-FCM, including the sampling device, the sample-processing unit, the unit for sample delivery to the flow cytometer and the settings for measurement of pre-processed samples. Also, available algorithms are presented for automated data analysis of multi-parameter fluorescence datasets derived from ART-FCM experiments. Furthermore, challenges are discussed for integration of fluorescence-activated cell sorting into an ART-FCM setup for isolation and separation of interesting subpopulations that can be further characterized by for instance omics-methods. As the application of ART-FCM is especially of interest for bioreactor process monitoring, including investigation of population heterogeneity and automated process control, a summary of already existing setups for these purposes is given. Additionally, the general future potential of ART-FCM is addressed.

Application of an Escherichia coli triple reporter strain for at-line monitoring of single-cell physiology during L-phenylalanine production

Biotechnological production processes are sustainable approaches for the production of biobased components such as amino acids for food and feed industry. Scale-up from ideal lab-scale bioreactors to large-scale processes is often accompanied by loss in productivity. This may be related to population heterogeneities of cells originating from isogenic cultures that arise due to dynamic non-ideal conditions in the bioreactor. To better understand this phenomenon, deeper insights into single-cell physiologies in bioprocesses are mandatory before scale-up. Here, a triple reporter strain (3RP) was developed by chromosomally integrating the fluorescent proteins mEmerald, CyOFP1, and mTagBFP2 into the L-phenylalanine producing Escherichia coli strain FUS4 (pF81_kan) to allow monitoring of growth, oxygen availability, and general stress response of the single cells. Functionality of the 3RP was confirmed in well-mixed lab-scale fed-batch processes with glycerol as carbon source in comparison to the strain without fluorescent proteins, leading to no difference in process performance. Fluorescence levels could successfully reflect the course of related process state variables, revealed population heterogeneities during the transition between different process phases and potentially subpopulations that exhibit superior process performance. Furthermore, indications were found for noise in gene expression as regulation strategy against environmental perturbation.

Single-Cell Technologies to Study Phenotypic Heterogeneity and Bacterial Persisters

Antibiotic persistence is a phenomenon in which rare cells of a clonal bacterial population can survive antibiotic doses that kill their kin, even though the entire population is genetically susceptible. With antibiotic treatment failure on the rise, there is growing interest in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying bacterial phenotypic heterogeneity and antibiotic persistence. However, elucidating these rare cell states can be technically challenging. The advent of single-cell techniques has enabled us to observe and quantitatively investigate individual cells in complex, phenotypically heterogeneous populations. In this review, we will discuss current technologies for studying persister phenotypes, including fluorescent tags and biosensors used to elucidate cellular processes; advances in flow cytometry, mass spectrometry, Raman spectroscopy, and microfluidics that contribute high-throughput and high-content information; and next-generation sequencing for powerful insights into genetic and transcriptomic programs. We will further discuss existing knowledge gaps, cutting-edge technologies that can address them, and how advances in single-cell microbiology can potentially improve infectious disease treatment outcomes.

Use of qPCR for the analysis of population heterogeneity and dynamics during Lactobacillus delbrueckii spp. bulgaricus batch fculture

Direct molecular methods such as real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and propidium monoazide (PMA)-qPCR have been successfully used for quantifying viable microorganisms in the food industry. This study attempted to use qPCR and PMA-qPCR for quantifying Lactobacillus delbrueckii spp. bulgaricus sp1.1 physiological states. The qPCR standards of the 16S rRNA gene were employed to calibrate the qPCR assay, which contributed to an amplification efficiency of 98.42%. The number of copies of the 16S rRNA gene was linearly related to cell density, and this linear relationship was used to construct a quantitative curve (R² =0.9981) with a detection limit of 15.1 colony-forming units mL^-1·reaction^-1. qPCR in combination with an optimal PMA concentration (60 μM) helped in discriminating and quantifying the viable cells, without any interference by heat-killed cells. Compared with the conventional methods, the population heterogeneity of viable, culturable, dormant-like and membrane-permeabilized cells were well identified and quantified using qPCR during L. delbrueckii spp. bulgaricus sp1.1 batch culture. Despite the restriction in the enumeration of lysed cells, qPCR-based methods facilitated reliable identification and quantification of bacterial physiological states and provided additional knowledge on the dynamics of L. delbrueckii spp. bulgaricus sp1.1 physiological states.

Measurement Techniques to Resolve and Control Population Dynamics of Mixed-Culture Processes

Microbial mixed cultures are gaining increasing attention as biotechnological production systems, since they offer a large but untapped potential for future bioprocesses. Effects of secondary metabolite induction and advantages of labor division for the degradation of complex substrates offer new possibilities for process intensification. However, mixed cultures are highly complex, and, consequently, many biotic and abiotic parameters are required to be identified, characterized, and ideally controlled to establish a stable bioprocess. In this review, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of existing measurement techniques for identifying, characterizing, monitoring, and controlling mixed cultures and highlight promising examples. Moreover, existing challenges and emerging technologies are discussed, which lay the foundation for novel analytical workflows to monitor mixed-culture bioprocesses.