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DeWinter MA, Wong DA, Fernandez R, Kightlinger W, Thames AH, DeLisa MP, Jewett MC. Establishing a Cell-Free Glycoprotein Synthesis System for Enzymatic N-GlcNAcylation. ACS Chem Biol 2024. [PMID: 38934647 DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.4c00228] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/28/2024]
Abstract
N-linked glycosylation plays a key role in the efficacy of many therapeutic proteins. One limitation to the bacterial glycoengineering of human N-linked glycans is the difficulty of installing a single N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), the reducing end sugar of many human-type glycans, onto asparagine in a single step (N-GlcNAcylation). Here, we develop an in vitro method for N-GlcNAcylating proteins using the oligosaccharyltransferase PglB from Campylobacter jejuni. We use cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) to test promiscuous PglB variants previously reported in the literature for the ability to produce N-GlcNAc and successfully determine that PglB with an N311V mutation (PglBN311V) exhibits increased GlcNAc transferase activity relative to the wild-type enzyme. We then improve the transfer efficiency by producing CFPS extracts enriched with PglBN311V and further optimize the reaction conditions, achieving a 98.6 ± 0.5% glycosylation efficiency. We anticipate this method will expand the glycoengineering toolbox for therapeutic research and biomanufacturing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madison A DeWinter
- Medical Scientist Training Program, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois 60611, United States
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
- Chemistry of Life Processes Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
- Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
| | - Derek A Wong
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
- Chemistry of Life Processes Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
- Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
| | - Regina Fernandez
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
- Chemistry of Life Processes Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
- Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
| | - Weston Kightlinger
- Cell-free Protein Synthesis and Microbial Process Development, National Resilience Inc.,, Oakland, California 94606, United States
| | - Ariel Helms Thames
- Medical Scientist Training Program, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois 60611, United States
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
- Chemistry of Life Processes Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
- Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
- Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois 60611, United States
| | - Matthew P DeLisa
- Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
- Cornell Institute of Biotechnology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - Michael C Jewett
- Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
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Leal-Alves C, Deng Z, Kermeci N, Shih SCC. Integrating microfluidics and synthetic biology: advancements and diverse applications across organisms. LAB ON A CHIP 2024; 24:2834-2860. [PMID: 38712893 DOI: 10.1039/d3lc01090b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/08/2024]
Abstract
Synthetic biology is the design and modification of biological systems for specific functions, integrating several disciplines like engineering, genetics, and computer science. The field of synthetic biology is to understand biological processes within host organisms through the manipulation and regulation of their genetic pathways and the addition of biocontrol circuits to enhance their production capabilities. This pursuit serves to address global challenges spanning diverse domains that are difficult to tackle through conventional routes of production. Despite its impact, achieving precise, dynamic, and high-throughput manipulation of biological processes is still challenging. Microfluidics offers a solution to those challenges, enabling controlled fluid handling at the microscale, offering lower reagent consumption, faster analysis of biochemical reactions, automation, and high throughput screening. In this review, we diverge from conventional focus on automating the synthetic biology design-build-test-learn cycle, and instead, focus on microfluidic platforms and their role in advancing synthetic biology through its integration with host organisms - bacterial cells, yeast, fungi, animal cells - and cell-free systems. The review illustrates how microfluidic devices have been instrumental in understanding biological systems by showcasing microfluidics as an essential tool to create synthetic genetic circuits, pathways, and organisms within controlled environments. In conclusion, we show how microfluidics expedite synthetic biology applications across diverse domains including but not limited to personalized medicine, bioenergy, and agriculture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Leal-Alves
- Centre for Applied Synthetic Biology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke St. W, Montréal, QC, H4B1R6 Canada.
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Concordia University, 1515 Ste-Catherine St. W, Montréal, QC, H3G1M8 Canada
| | - Zhiyang Deng
- Centre for Applied Synthetic Biology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke St. W, Montréal, QC, H4B1R6 Canada.
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Concordia University, 1515 Ste-Catherine St. W, Montréal, QC, H3G1M8 Canada
| | - Natalia Kermeci
- Centre for Applied Synthetic Biology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke St. W, Montréal, QC, H4B1R6 Canada.
- Department of Biology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke St. W, Montréal, QC, H4B1R6 Canada
| | - Steve C C Shih
- Centre for Applied Synthetic Biology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke St. W, Montréal, QC, H4B1R6 Canada.
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Concordia University, 1515 Ste-Catherine St. W, Montréal, QC, H3G1M8 Canada
- Department of Biology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke St. W, Montréal, QC, H4B1R6 Canada
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Bidstrup EJ, Kwon YH, Kim K, Bandi CK, Aw R, Jewett MC, DeLisa MP. Cell-Free Systems for the Production of Glycoproteins. Methods Mol Biol 2024; 2762:309-328. [PMID: 38315374 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3666-4_19] [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: 02/07/2024]
Abstract
Cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS), whereby cell lysates are used to produce proteins from a genetic template, has matured as an attractive alternative to standard biomanufacturing modalities due to its high volumetric productivity contained within a distributable platform. Initially, cell-free lysates produced from Escherichia coli, which are both simple to produce and cost-effective for the production of a wide variety of proteins, were unable to produce glycosylated proteins as E. coli lacks native glycosylation machinery. With many important therapeutic proteins possessing asparagine-linked glycans that are critical for structure and function, this gap in CFPS production capabilities was addressed with the development of cell-free expression of glycoproteins (glycoCFE), which uses the supplementation of extracted lipid-linked oligosaccharides and purified oligosaccharyltransferases to enable glycoprotein production in the CFPS reaction environment. In this chapter, we highlight the basic methods for the preparation of reagents for glycoCFE and the protocol for expression and glycosylation of a model protein using a more productive, yet simplified, glycoCFE setup. Beyond this initial protocol, we also highlight how this protocol can be extended to a wide range of alternative glycan structures, oligosaccharyltransferases, and acceptor proteins as well as to a one-pot cell-free glycoprotein synthesis reaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik J Bidstrup
- Robert F. Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Yong Hyun Kwon
- Robert F. Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Keehun Kim
- Robert F. Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Chandra Kanth Bandi
- Robert F. Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Rochelle Aw
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Michael C Jewett
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
- Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Matthew P DeLisa
- Robert F. Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
- Cornell Institute of Biotechnology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
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Manzer ZA, Selivanovitch E, Ostwalt AR, Daniel S. Membrane protein synthesis: no cells required. Trends Biochem Sci 2023; 48:642-654. [PMID: 37087310 DOI: 10.1016/j.tibs.2023.03.006] [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] [Received: 11/07/2022] [Revised: 02/20/2023] [Accepted: 03/22/2023] [Indexed: 04/24/2023]
Abstract
Despite advances in membrane protein (MP) structural biology and a growing interest in their applications, these proteins remain challenging to study. Progress has been hindered by the complex nature of MPs and innovative methods will be required to circumvent technical hurdles. Cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) is a burgeoning technique for synthesizing MPs directly into a membrane environment using reconstituted components of the cellular transcription and translation machinery in vitro. We provide an overview of CFPS and how this technique can be applied to the synthesis and study of MPs. We highlight numerous strategies including synthesis methods and folding environments, each with advantages and limitations, to provide a survey of how CFPS techniques can advance the study of MPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zachary A Manzer
- R.F. School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Ekaterina Selivanovitch
- R.F. School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Alexis R Ostwalt
- R.F. School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Susan Daniel
- R.F. School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
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Small tools for sweet challenges: advances in microfluidic technologies for glycan synthesis. Anal Bioanal Chem 2022; 414:5139-5163. [PMID: 35199190 DOI: 10.1007/s00216-022-03948-1] [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: 12/12/2021] [Revised: 01/26/2022] [Accepted: 01/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Abstract
Glycans, including oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates, play an integral role in modulating the biological functions of macromolecules. Many physiological and pathological processes are mediated by interactions between glycans, which has led to the use of glycans as biosensors for pathogen and biomarker detection. Elucidating the relationship between glycan structure and biological function is critical for advancing our understanding of the impact glycans have on human health and disease and for expanding the repertoire of glycans available for bioanalysis, especially for diagnostics. Such efforts have been limited by the difficulty in obtaining sufficient quantities of homogenous glycan samples needed to resolve the exact relationships between glycan structure and their structural or modulatory functions on a given glycoconjugate. Synthetic strategies offer a viable route for overcoming these technical hurdles. In recent years, microfluidics have emerged as powerful tools for realizing high-throughput and reproducible syntheses of homogenous glycans for the potential use in functional studies. This critical review provides readers with an overview of the microfluidic technologies that have been developed for chemical and enzymatic glycan synthesis. The advantages and limitations associated with using microreactor platforms to improve the scalability, productivity, and selectivity of glycosylation reactions will be discussed, as well as suggested future work that can address certain pitfalls.
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