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Cao W, Huang C, Zhou X, Zhou S, Deng Y. Engineering two-component systems for advanced biosensing: From architecture to applications in biotechnology. Biotechnol Adv 2024; 75:108404. [PMID: 39002783 DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2024.108404] [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: 02/27/2024] [Revised: 06/05/2024] [Accepted: 07/07/2024] [Indexed: 07/15/2024]
Abstract
Two-component systems (TCSs) are prevalent signaling pathways in bacteria. These systems mediate phosphotransfer between histidine kinase and a response regulator, facilitating responses to diverse physical, chemical, and biological stimuli. Advancements in synthetic and structural biology have repurposed TCSs for applications in monitoring heavy metals, disease-associated biomarkers, and the production of bioproducts. However, the utility of many TCS biosensors is hindered by undesired performance due to the lack of effective engineering methods. Here, we briefly discuss the architectures and regulatory mechanisms of TCSs. We also summarize the recent advancements in TCS engineering by experimental or computational-based methods to fine-tune the biosensor functional parameters, such as response curve and specificity. Engineered TCSs have great potential in the medical, environmental, and biorefinery fields, demonstrating a crucial role in a wide area of biotechnology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenyan Cao
- School of Biotechnology and Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology of Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Chao Huang
- School of Biotechnology and Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology of Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Xuan Zhou
- School of Biotechnology and Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology of Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Shenghu Zhou
- School of Biotechnology and Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology of Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.
| | - Yu Deng
- School of Biotechnology and Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology of Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.
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2
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Liu N, Dong W, Yang H, Li JH, Chiu TY. Application of artificial scaffold systems in microbial metabolic engineering. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2023; 11:1328141. [PMID: 38188488 PMCID: PMC10771841 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1328141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2023] [Accepted: 12/12/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024] Open
Abstract
In nature, metabolic pathways are often organized into complex structures such as multienzyme complexes, enzyme molecular scaffolds, or reaction microcompartments. These structures help facilitate multi-step metabolic reactions. However, engineered metabolic pathways in microbial cell factories do not possess inherent metabolic regulatory mechanisms, which can result in metabolic imbalance. Taking inspiration from nature, scientists have successfully developed synthetic scaffolds to enhance the performance of engineered metabolic pathways in microbial cell factories. By recruiting enzymes, synthetic scaffolds facilitate the formation of multi-enzyme complexes, leading to the modulation of enzyme spatial distribution, increased enzyme activity, and a reduction in the loss of intermediate products and the toxicity associated with harmful intermediates within cells. In recent years, scaffolds based on proteins, nucleic acids, and various organelles have been developed and employed to facilitate multiple metabolic pathways. Despite varying degrees of success, synthetic scaffolds still encounter numerous challenges. The objective of this review is to provide a comprehensive introduction to these synthetic scaffolds and discuss their latest research advancements and challenges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nana Liu
- College of Pharmaceutical Science, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
- HIM-BGI Omics Center, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou Institute of Medicine (HIM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Hangzhou, China
| | - Wei Dong
- HIM-BGI Omics Center, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou Institute of Medicine (HIM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Hangzhou, China
| | - Huanming Yang
- HIM-BGI Omics Center, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou Institute of Medicine (HIM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Hangzhou, China
| | - Jing-Hua Li
- College of Pharmaceutical Science, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
| | - Tsan-Yu Chiu
- College of Pharmaceutical Science, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
- HIM-BGI Omics Center, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou Institute of Medicine (HIM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Hangzhou, China
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3
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Aghaali Z, Naghavi MR. Engineering of CYP82Y1, a cytochrome P450 monooxygenase: a key enzyme in noscapine biosynthesis in opium poppy. Biochem J 2023; 480:2009-2022. [PMID: 38063234 DOI: 10.1042/bcj20230243] [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: 06/16/2023] [Revised: 10/22/2023] [Accepted: 10/25/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023]
Abstract
Protein engineering provides a powerful base for the circumvention of challenges tied with characteristics accountable for enzyme functions. CYP82Y1 introduces a hydroxyl group (-OH) into C1 of N-methylcanadine as the substrate to yield 1-hydroxy-N-methylcanadine. This chemical process has been found to be the gateway to noscapine biosynthesis. Owning to the importance of CYP82Y1 in this biosynthetic pathway, it has been selected as a target for enzyme engineering. The insertion of tags to the N- and C-terminal of CYP82Y1 was assessed for their efficiencies for improvement of the physiological performances of CYP82Y1. Although these attempts achieved some positive results, further strategies are required to dramatically enhance the CYP82Y1 activity. Here methods that have been adopted to achieve a functionally improved CYP82Y1 will be reviewed. In addition, the possibility of recruitment of other techniques having not yet been implemented in CYP82Y1 engineering, including the substitution of the residues located in the substrate recognition site, formation of the synthetic fusion proteins, and construction of the artificial lipid-based scaffold will be discussed. Given the fact that the pace of noscapine synthesis is constrained by the CYP82Y1-catalyzing step, the methods proposed here are capable of accelerating the rate of reaction performed by CYP82Y1 through improving its properties, resulting in the enhancement of noscapine accumulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zahra Aghaali
- Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mohammad Reza Naghavi
- Division of Plant Biotechnology, Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Agricultural and Natural Resources College, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran
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Bouin A, Zhang C, Lindley ND, Truan G, Lautier T. Exploring linker's sequence diversity to fuse carotene cyclase and hydroxylase for zeaxanthin biosynthesis. Metab Eng Commun 2023; 16:e00222. [PMID: 37168436 PMCID: PMC10165439 DOI: 10.1016/j.mec.2023.e00222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2023] [Revised: 04/12/2023] [Accepted: 04/16/2023] [Indexed: 05/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Fusion of catalytic domains can accelerate cascade reactions by bringing enzymes in close proximity. However, the design of a protein fusion and the choice of a linker are often challenging and lack of guidance. To determine the impact of linker parameters on fusion proteins, a library of linkers featuring various lengths, secondary structures, extensions and hydrophobicities was designed. Linkers were used to fuse the lycopene cyclase (crtY) and β-carotene hydroxylase (crtZ) from Pantoea ananatis to create fusion proteins to produce zeaxanthin. The fusion efficiency was assessed by comparing the carotenoids content in a carotenoid-producer Escherichia coli strain. It was shown that in addition to the orientation of the enzymes and the size of the linker, the first amino acid of the linker is also a key factor in determining the efficiency of a protein fusion. The wide range of sequence diversity in our linker library enables the fine tuning of protein fusion and this approach can be easily transferred to other enzyme couples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aurélie Bouin
- Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore
- TBI, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, INRAE, INSA, Toulouse, France
| | - Congqiang Zhang
- Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore
- Corresponding author.
| | - Nic D. Lindley
- Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore
- TBI, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, INRAE, INSA, Toulouse, France
| | - Gilles Truan
- TBI, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, INRAE, INSA, Toulouse, France
- Corresponding author.
| | - Thomas Lautier
- Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore
- TBI, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, INRAE, INSA, Toulouse, France
- CNRS@CREATE, 1 Create Way, #08-01 Create Tower, 138602, Singapore
- Corresponding author. Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore.
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Abrahamson CH, Palmero BJ, Kennedy NW, Tullman-Ercek D. Theoretical and Practical Aspects of Multienzyme Organization and Encapsulation. Annu Rev Biophys 2023; 52:553-572. [PMID: 36854212 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-biophys-092222-020832] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/02/2023]
Abstract
The advent of biotechnology has enabled metabolic engineers to assemble heterologous pathways in cells to produce a variety of products of industrial relevance, often in a sustainable way. However, many pathways face challenges of low product yield. These pathways often suffer from issues that are difficult to optimize, such as low pathway flux and off-target pathway consumption of intermediates. These issues are exacerbated by the need to balance pathway flux with the health of the cell, particularly when a toxic intermediate builds up. Nature faces similar challenges and has evolved spatial organization strategies to increase metabolic pathway flux and efficiency. Inspired by these strategies, bioengineers have developed clever strategies to mimic spatial organization in nature. This review explores the use of spatial organization strategies, including protein scaffolding and protein encapsulation inside of proteinaceous shells, toward overcoming bottlenecks in metabolic engineering efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlotte H Abrahamson
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA;
| | - Brett J Palmero
- Interdisciplinary Biological Sciences Graduate Program, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
| | - Nolan W Kennedy
- Interdisciplinary Biological Sciences Graduate Program, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
| | - Danielle Tullman-Ercek
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA;
- Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
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Joshi SHN, Yong C, Gyorgy A. Inducible plasmid copy number control for synthetic biology in commonly used E. coli strains. Nat Commun 2022; 13:6691. [PMID: 36335103 PMCID: PMC9637173 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34390-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2022] [Accepted: 10/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to externally control gene expression has been paradigm shifting for all areas of biological research, especially for synthetic biology. Such control typically occurs at the transcriptional and translational level, while technologies enabling control at the DNA copy level are limited by either (i) relying on a handful of plasmids with fixed and arbitrary copy numbers; or (ii) require multiple plasmids for replication control; or (iii) are restricted to specialized strains. To overcome these limitations, we present TULIP (TUnable Ligand Inducible Plasmid): a self-contained plasmid with inducible copy number control, designed for portability across various Escherichia coli strains commonly used for cloning, protein expression, and metabolic engineering. Using TULIP, we demonstrate through multiple application examples that flexible plasmid copy number control accelerates the design and optimization of gene circuits, enables efficient probing of metabolic burden, and facilitates the prototyping and recycling of modules in different genetic contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shivang Hina-Nilesh Joshi
- grid.440573.10000 0004 1755 5934Division of Engineering, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Chentao Yong
- grid.440573.10000 0004 1755 5934Division of Engineering, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates ,grid.137628.90000 0004 1936 8753Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, New York University, New York, NY USA
| | - Andras Gyorgy
- grid.440573.10000 0004 1755 5934Division of Engineering, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
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Luo Z, Pan F, Zhu Y, Du S, Yan Y, Wang R, Li S, Xu H. Synergistic Improvement of 5-Aminolevulinic Acid Production with Synthetic Scaffolds and System Pathway Engineering. ACS Synth Biol 2022; 11:2766-2778. [PMID: 35939037 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.2c00157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Engineered synthetic scaffolds to organize metabolic pathway enzymes and system pathway engineering to fine-tune metabolic fluxes play essential roles in microbial production. Here, we first obtained the most favorable combination of key enzymes for 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) synthesis through the C5 pathway by screening enzymes from different sources and optimizing their combination in different pathways. Second, we successfully constructed a multienzyme complex assembly system with PduA*, which spatially recruits the above three key enzymes for 5-ALA synthesis in a designable manner. By further optimizing the ratio of these key enzymes in synthetic scaffolds, the efficiency of 5-ALA synthesis through the C5 pathway was significantly improved. Then, the competitive metabolism pathway was fine-tuned by rationally designing different antisense RNAs, further significantly increasing 5-ALA titers. Furthermore, for efficient 5-ALA synthesis, obstacles of NADH and NADPH imbalances and feedback inhibition of the synthesis pathway were also overcome through engineering the NADPH regeneration pathway and transport pathway, respectively. Finally, combining these strategies with further fermentation optimization, we achieved a final 5-ALA titer of 11.4 g/L. These results highlight the importance of synthetic scaffolds and system pathway engineering to improve the microbial cell factory production performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhengshan Luo
- State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China.,College of Food Science and Light Industry, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China
| | - Fei Pan
- State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China.,College of Food Science and Light Industry, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China
| | - Yifan Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China.,College of Food Science and Light Industry, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China
| | - Shanshan Du
- State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China.,College of Food Science and Light Industry, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China
| | - Yifan Yan
- State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China.,College of Food Science and Light Industry, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China
| | - Rui Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China.,College of Food Science and Light Industry, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China
| | - Sha Li
- State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China.,College of Food Science and Light Industry, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China
| | - Hong Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China.,College of Food Science and Light Industry, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China
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