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Deal C, De Wannemaeker L, De Mey M. Towards a rational approach to promoter engineering: understanding the complexity of transcription initiation in prokaryotes. FEMS Microbiol Rev 2024; 48:fuae004. [PMID: 38383636 PMCID: PMC10911233 DOI: 10.1093/femsre/fuae004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2023] [Revised: 01/29/2024] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 02/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Promoter sequences are important genetic control elements. Through their interaction with RNA polymerase they determine transcription strength and specificity, thereby regulating the first step in gene expression. Consequently, they can be targeted as elements to control predictability and tuneability of a genetic circuit, which is essential in applications such as the development of robust microbial cell factories. This review considers the promoter elements implicated in the three stages of transcription initiation, detailing the complex interplay of sequence-specific interactions that are involved, and highlighting that DNA sequence features beyond the core promoter elements work in a combinatorial manner to determine transcriptional strength. In particular, we emphasize that, aside from promoter recognition, transcription initiation is also defined by the kinetics of open complex formation and promoter escape, which are also known to be highly sequence specific. Significantly, we focus on how insights into these interactions can be manipulated to lay the foundation for a more rational approach to promoter engineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cara Deal
- Centre for Synthetic Biology, Ghent University. Coupure Links 653, BE-9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Lien De Wannemaeker
- Centre for Synthetic Biology, Ghent University. Coupure Links 653, BE-9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Marjan De Mey
- Centre for Synthetic Biology, Ghent University. Coupure Links 653, BE-9000 Ghent, Belgium
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2
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Cox JR, Fox A, Lenahan C, Pivnik L, Manion M, Blazeck J. Engineering CREB-activated promoters for adenosine-induced gene expression. Biotechnol J 2024; 19:e2300446. [PMID: 38403442 PMCID: PMC10901447 DOI: 10.1002/biot.202300446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2023] [Revised: 12/25/2023] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 02/27/2024]
Abstract
Accumulation of the ribonucleoside, adenosine (ADO), triggers a cAMP response element binding protein (CREB)-mediated signaling pathway to suppress the function of immune cells in tumors. Here, we describe a collection of CREB-activated promoters that allow for strong and tunable ADO-induced gene expression in human cells. By optimizing number of CREB transcription factor binding sites and altering the core promoter region of CREB-based hybrid promoters, we created synthetic constructs that drive gene expression to higher levels than strong, endogenous mammalian promoters in the presence of ADO. These synthetic promoters are induced up to 47-fold by ADO, with minimal expression in their "off" state. We further determine that our CREB-based promoters are activated by other compounds that act as signaling analogs, and that combinatorial addition of ADO and these compounds has a synergistic impact on gene expression. Surprisingly, we also detail how background ADO degradation caused by the common cell culture media additive, fetal bovine serum (FBS), confounds experiments designed to determine ADO dose-responsiveness. We show that only after long-term heat deactivation of FBS can our synthetic promoters enable gene expression induction at physiologically relevant levels of ADO. Finally, we demonstrate that the strength of a CREB-based promoter is enhanced by incorporating other transcription factor binding sites.
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Affiliation(s)
- John Robert Cox
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Andrea Fox
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Conor Lenahan
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Liza Pivnik
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Matthew Manion
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - John Blazeck
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
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3
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Xu K, Yu S, Wang K, Tan Y, Zhao X, Liu S, Zhou J, Wang X. AI and Knowledge-Based Method for Rational Design of Escherichia coli Sigma70 Promoters. ACS Synth Biol 2024; 13:402-407. [PMID: 38176073 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.3c00578] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2024]
Abstract
Expanding sigma70 promoter libraries can support the engineering of metabolic pathways and enhance recombinant protein expression. Herein, we developed an artificial intelligence (AI) and knowledge-based method for the rational design of sigma70 promoters. Strong sigma70 promoters were identified by using high-throughput screening (HTS) with enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) as a reporter gene. The features of these strong promoters were adopted to guide promoter design based on our previous reported deep learning model. In the following case study, the obtained strong promoters were used to express collagen and microbial transglutaminase (mTG), resulting in increased expression levels by 81.4% and 33.4%, respectively. Moreover, these constitutive promoters achieved soluble expression of mTG-activating protease and contributed to active mTG expression in Escherichia coli. The results suggested that the combined method may be effective for promoter engineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kangjie Xu
- Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education on Food Synthetic Biotechnology and School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
- Science Center for Future Foods, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
| | - Shangyang Yu
- Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education on Food Synthetic Biotechnology and School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
- Science Center for Future Foods, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
| | - Kun Wang
- Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education on Food Synthetic Biotechnology and School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
- Science Center for Future Foods, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
| | - Yameng Tan
- Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education on Food Synthetic Biotechnology and School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
- Science Center for Future Foods, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
| | - Xinyi Zhao
- Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education on Food Synthetic Biotechnology and School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
- Science Center for Future Foods, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
| | - Song Liu
- Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education on Food Synthetic Biotechnology and School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
- Science Center for Future Foods, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
| | - Jingwen Zhou
- Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education on Food Synthetic Biotechnology and School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
- Science Center for Future Foods, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
- Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Center of Food Synthetic Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
| | - Xinglong Wang
- Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education on Food Synthetic Biotechnology and School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
- Science Center for Future Foods, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
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4
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Jun JS, Jeong HE, Hong KW. Exploring and Engineering Novel Strong Promoters for High-Level Protein Expression in Bacillus subtilis DB104 through Transcriptome Analysis. Microorganisms 2023; 11:2929. [PMID: 38138072 PMCID: PMC10745405 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11122929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2023] [Revised: 12/01/2023] [Accepted: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Bacillus subtilis is widely employed for recombinant protein expression. B. subtilis DB104 offers a distinct advantage as a protein expression host because it is an extracellular protease-deficient derivative of B. subtilis 168. We have conducted a time-course transcriptome analysis of B. subtilis DB104 in a prior study. In the present study, we identified 10 genes that exhibited strong expression at each time point or all, based on transcriptome data. Subsequently, we assessed the strength of 12 promoters that transcribe these genes using enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) as a reporter. Among these promoters, Psdp and PskfA had the highest expression levels. At 24 h, these two promoters exhibited 34.5- and 38.8-fold higher strength, respectively, than the strength of P43, the control promoter. Consequently, these two promoters were selected for further development. We enhanced these promoters by optimizing spacer length, promoter sequence, Shine-Dalgarno sequence, regulator binding sites, and terminator sequences. As a result, we successfully engineered the most potent protein expression cassette, Psdp-4, which exhibited a 3.84-fold increase in strength compared to the original Psdp promoter. Furthermore, we constructed an expression cassette for a human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) using Psdp-4 to evaluate its general application. The expression level of His tagged hEGF, quantified using ImageJ analysis and applied to SDS-PAGE, reached the highest yield of 103.9 μg/mL under the control of Psdp-4 at 24 h. The expressed hEGF protein was purified, and its bioactivity was confirmed through a cell proliferation assay using HT-29 cells. Our work demonstrates the construction of a highly efficient expression system for B. subtilis DB104 based on transcriptome data and promoter engineering. This system enables rapid, inducer-free protein expression within 24 h. It can be used as a valuable tool for various industrial applications.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Kwang-Won Hong
- Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Biotechnology, Dongguk University, Goyang-si 10326, Republic of Korea; (J.-S.J.); (H.-E.J.)
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5
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Wu Y, Feng S, Sun Z, Hu Y, Jia X, Zeng B. An outlook to sophisticated technologies and novel developments for metabolic regulation in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae expression system. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2023; 11:1249841. [PMID: 37869712 PMCID: PMC10586203 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1249841] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2023] [Accepted: 09/04/2023] [Indexed: 10/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Saccharomyces cerevisiae is one of the most extensively used biosynthetic systems for the production of diverse bioproducts, especially biotherapeutics and recombinant proteins. Because the expression and insertion of foreign genes are always impaired by the endogenous factors of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and nonproductive procedures, various technologies have been developed to enhance the strength and efficiency of transcription and facilitate gene editing procedures. Thus, the limitations that block heterologous protein secretion have been overcome. Highly efficient promoters responsible for the initiation of transcription and the accurate regulation of expression have been developed that can be precisely regulated with synthetic promoters and double promoter expression systems. Appropriate codon optimization and harmonization for adaption to the genomic codon abundance of S. cerevisiae are expected to further improve the transcription and translation efficiency. Efficient and accurate translocation can be achieved by fusing a specifically designed signal peptide to an upstream foreign gene to facilitate the secretion of newly synthesized proteins. In addition to the widely applied promoter engineering technology and the clear mechanism of the endoplasmic reticulum secretory pathway, the innovative genome editing technique CRISPR/Cas (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated system) and its derivative tools allow for more precise and efficient gene disruption, site-directed mutation, and foreign gene insertion. This review focuses on sophisticated engineering techniques and emerging genetic technologies developed for the accurate metabolic regulation of the S. cerevisiae expression system.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | - Bin Zeng
- College of Pharmacy, Shenzhen Technology University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
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6
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Chen H, Bai X, Sun T, Wang X, Zhang Y, Bian X, Zhou H. The Genomic-Driven Discovery of Glutarimide-Containing Derivatives from Burkholderia gladioli. Molecules 2023; 28:6937. [PMID: 37836780 PMCID: PMC10574677 DOI: 10.3390/molecules28196937] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2023] [Revised: 09/20/2023] [Accepted: 09/28/2023] [Indexed: 10/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Glutarimide-containing polyketides exhibiting potent antitumor and antimicrobial activities were encoded via conserved module blocks in various strains that favor the genomic mining of these family compounds. The bioinformatic analysis of the genome of Burkholderia gladioli ATCC 10248 showed a silent trans-AT PKS biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) on chromosome 2 (Chr2C8), which was predicted to produce new glutarimide-containing derivatives. Then, the silent polyketide synthase gene cluster was successfully activated via in situ promoter insertion and heterologous expression. As a result, seven glutarimide-containing analogs, including five new ones, gladiofungins D-H (3-7), and two known gladiofungin A/gladiostatin (1) and 2 (named gladiofungin C), were isolated from the fermentation of the activated mutant. Their structures were elucidated through the analysis of HR-ESI-MS and NMR spectroscopy. The structural diversities of gladiofungins may be due to the degradation of the butenolide group in gladiofungin A (1) during the fermentation and extraction process. Bioactivity screening showed that 2 and 4 had moderate anti-inflammatory activities. Thus, genome mining combined with promoter engineering and heterologous expression were proved to be effective strategies for the pathway-specific activation of the silent BGCs for the directional discovery of new natural products.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanna Chen
- Helmholtz International Lab for Anti-Infectives, Shandong University–Helmholtz Institute of Biotechnology, State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China; (H.C.); (X.B.); (T.S.); (X.W.)
- School of Medicine, Linyi University, Shuangling Road, Linyi 276000, China
| | - Xianping Bai
- Helmholtz International Lab for Anti-Infectives, Shandong University–Helmholtz Institute of Biotechnology, State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China; (H.C.); (X.B.); (T.S.); (X.W.)
| | - Tao Sun
- Helmholtz International Lab for Anti-Infectives, Shandong University–Helmholtz Institute of Biotechnology, State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China; (H.C.); (X.B.); (T.S.); (X.W.)
| | - Xingyan Wang
- Helmholtz International Lab for Anti-Infectives, Shandong University–Helmholtz Institute of Biotechnology, State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China; (H.C.); (X.B.); (T.S.); (X.W.)
| | - Youming Zhang
- Helmholtz International Lab for Anti-Infectives, Shandong University–Helmholtz Institute of Biotechnology, State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China; (H.C.); (X.B.); (T.S.); (X.W.)
- CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Xiaoying Bian
- Helmholtz International Lab for Anti-Infectives, Shandong University–Helmholtz Institute of Biotechnology, State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China; (H.C.); (X.B.); (T.S.); (X.W.)
| | - Haibo Zhou
- Helmholtz International Lab for Anti-Infectives, Shandong University–Helmholtz Institute of Biotechnology, State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China; (H.C.); (X.B.); (T.S.); (X.W.)
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7
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Xiao Z, Wang Y, Liu J, Zhang S, Tan X, Zhao Y, Mao J, Jiang N, Zhou J, Shan Y. Systematic Engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Chassis for Efficient Flavonoid-7- O-Disaccharide Biosynthesis. ACS Synth Biol 2023; 12:2740-2749. [PMID: 37566738 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.3c00348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/13/2023]
Abstract
Flavonoids are an essential class of secondary metabolites found in plants and possess various nutritional, medicinal, and agricultural properties. However, the poor water solubility of flavonoid aglycones limits their potential applications. To overcome this issue, glycosylation is a promising approach for improving water solubility and bioavailability. In this study, we constructed a flavonoid-7-O-disaccharide biosynthetic pathway with flavonoid aglycones as substrates in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Subsequently, through metabolic engineering and promoter strategies, we constructed a UDP-rhamnose regeneration system and optimized the UDP-glucose (UDPG) synthetic pathway. The optimized strain produced up to 131.3 mg/L eriocitrin. After this, the chassis cells were applied to other flavonoids, with substrates such as (2S)-naringenin, (2S)-hesperetin, diosmetin, and (2S)-eriodictyol, which resulted in the synthesis of 179.9 mg/L naringin, 276.6 mg/L hesperidin, 249.0 mg/L neohesperidin, 30.4 mg/L diosmin, and 100.7 mg/L neoeriocitrin. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the biosynthesis of flavonoid-7-O-disaccharide.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhiqiang Xiao
- Longping Branch, College of Biology, Hunan University, Changsha 410125, China
- Agriculture Product Processing Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China
- Hunan Key Lab of Fruits & Vegetables Storage, Processing, Quality and Safety, Hunan Agricultural Products Processing Institute, Changsha 410125, China
| | - Yongtong Wang
- Longping Branch, College of Biology, Hunan University, Changsha 410125, China
- Agriculture Product Processing Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China
- Hunan Key Lab of Fruits & Vegetables Storage, Processing, Quality and Safety, Hunan Agricultural Products Processing Institute, Changsha 410125, China
| | - Juan Liu
- Longping Branch, College of Biology, Hunan University, Changsha 410125, China
- Agriculture Product Processing Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China
- Hunan Key Lab of Fruits & Vegetables Storage, Processing, Quality and Safety, Hunan Agricultural Products Processing Institute, Changsha 410125, China
- Department of Life Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, SE412 96, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Siqi Zhang
- Longping Branch, College of Biology, Hunan University, Changsha 410125, China
- Agriculture Product Processing Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China
- Hunan Key Lab of Fruits & Vegetables Storage, Processing, Quality and Safety, Hunan Agricultural Products Processing Institute, Changsha 410125, China
| | - Xinjia Tan
- Longping Branch, College of Biology, Hunan University, Changsha 410125, China
- Agriculture Product Processing Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China
- Hunan Key Lab of Fruits & Vegetables Storage, Processing, Quality and Safety, Hunan Agricultural Products Processing Institute, Changsha 410125, China
| | - Yifei Zhao
- Longping Branch, College of Biology, Hunan University, Changsha 410125, China
- Agriculture Product Processing Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China
- Hunan Key Lab of Fruits & Vegetables Storage, Processing, Quality and Safety, Hunan Agricultural Products Processing Institute, Changsha 410125, China
| | - Jiwei Mao
- Department of Life Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, SE412 96, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Ning Jiang
- Agriculture Product Processing Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China
- Hunan Key Lab of Fruits & Vegetables Storage, Processing, Quality and Safety, Hunan Agricultural Products Processing Institute, Changsha 410125, China
| | - Jingwen Zhou
- Science Center for Future Foods, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
| | - Yang Shan
- Longping Branch, College of Biology, Hunan University, Changsha 410125, China
- Agriculture Product Processing Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China
- Hunan Key Lab of Fruits & Vegetables Storage, Processing, Quality and Safety, Hunan Agricultural Products Processing Institute, Changsha 410125, China
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8
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Huttanus HM, Triola EKH, Velasquez-Guzman JC, Shin SM, Granja-Travez RS, Singh A, Dale T, Jha RK. Targeted mutagenesis and high-throughput screening of diversified gene and promoter libraries for isolating gain-of-function mutations. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2023; 11:1202388. [PMID: 37545889 PMCID: PMC10400447 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1202388] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2023] [Accepted: 06/25/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Targeted mutagenesis of a promoter or gene is essential for attaining new functions in microbial and protein engineering efforts. In the burgeoning field of synthetic biology, heterologous genes are expressed in new host organisms. Similarly, natural or designed proteins are mutagenized at targeted positions and screened for gain-of-function mutations. Here, we describe methods to attain complete randomization or controlled mutations in promoters or genes. Combinatorial libraries of one hundred thousands to tens of millions of variants can be created using commercially synthesized oligonucleotides, simply by performing two rounds of polymerase chain reactions. With a suitably engineered reporter in a whole cell, these libraries can be screened rapidly by performing fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). Within a few rounds of positive and negative sorting based on the response from the reporter, the library can rapidly converge to a few optimal or extremely rare variants with desired phenotypes. Library construction, transformation and sequence verification takes 6-9 days and requires only basic molecular biology lab experience. Screening the library by FACS takes 3-5 days and requires training for the specific cytometer used. Further steps after sorting, including colony picking, sequencing, verification, and characterization of individual clones may take longer, depending on number of clones and required experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Herbert M. Huttanus
- Bioscience Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, United States
- Agile BioFoundry, Emeryville, CA, United States
| | - Ellin-Kristina H. Triola
- Bioscience Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, United States
- Agile BioFoundry, Emeryville, CA, United States
| | - Jeanette C. Velasquez-Guzman
- Bioscience Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, United States
- Agile BioFoundry, Emeryville, CA, United States
| | - Sang-Min Shin
- Bioscience Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, United States
- BOTTLE Consortium, Golden, CO, United States
| | - Rommel S. Granja-Travez
- Bioscience Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, United States
- BOTTLE Consortium, Golden, CO, United States
| | - Anmoldeep Singh
- Bioscience Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, United States
| | - Taraka Dale
- Bioscience Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, United States
- Agile BioFoundry, Emeryville, CA, United States
- BOTTLE Consortium, Golden, CO, United States
| | - Ramesh K. Jha
- Bioscience Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, United States
- Agile BioFoundry, Emeryville, CA, United States
- BOTTLE Consortium, Golden, CO, United States
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9
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Neves D, Liebal UW, Nies SC, Alter TB, Pitzler C, Blank LM, Ebert BE. Cross-Species Synthetic Promoter Library: Finding Common Ground between Pseudomonas taiwanensis VLB120 and Escherichia coli. ACS Synth Biol 2023. [PMID: 37341594 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.3c00084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/22/2023]
Abstract
The potential of nonmodel organisms for industrial biotechnology is increasingly becoming evident since advances in systems and synthetic biology have made it possible to explore their unique traits. However, the lack of adequately characterized genetic elements that drive gene expression impedes benchmarking nonmodel with model organisms. Promoters are one of the genetic elements that contribute significantly to gene expression, but information about their performance in different organisms is limited. This work addresses this bottleneck by characterizing libraries of synthetic σ70-dependent promoters controlling the expression of msfGFP, a monomeric, superfolder green fluorescent protein, in both Escherichia coli TOP10 and Pseudomonas taiwanensis VLB120, a less explored microbe with industrially attractive attributes. We adopted a standardized method for comparing gene promoter strength across species and laboratories. Our approach uses fluorescein calibration and adjusts for cell growth variation, enabling accurate cross-species comparisons. The quantitative description of promoter strength is a valuable expansion of P. taiwanensis VLB120's genetic toolbox, while the comparison with the performance in E. coli facilitates the evaluation of P. taiwanensis VLB120's potential as a chassis for biotechnology applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dário Neves
- Institute of Applied Microbiology-iAMB, Aachen Biology and Biotechnology-ABBt, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Ulf W Liebal
- Institute of Applied Microbiology-iAMB, Aachen Biology and Biotechnology-ABBt, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Salome C Nies
- Institute of Applied Microbiology-iAMB, Aachen Biology and Biotechnology-ABBt, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Tobias B Alter
- Institute of Applied Microbiology-iAMB, Aachen Biology and Biotechnology-ABBt, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Christian Pitzler
- Institute of Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 3, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Lars M Blank
- Institute of Applied Microbiology-iAMB, Aachen Biology and Biotechnology-ABBt, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Birgitta E Ebert
- Institute of Applied Microbiology-iAMB, Aachen Biology and Biotechnology-ABBt, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, 52074 Aachen, Germany
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
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10
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Georgiadis I, Tsiligkaki C, Patavou V, Orfanidou M, Tsoureki A, Andreadelli A, Theodosiou E, Makris AM. Identification and Construction of Strong Promoters in Yarrowia lipolytica Suitable for Glycerol-Based Bioprocesses. Microorganisms 2023; 11:1152. [PMID: 37317126 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11051152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2023] [Revised: 04/25/2023] [Accepted: 04/26/2023] [Indexed: 06/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Yarrowia lipolytica is a non-pathogenic aerobic yeast with numerous industrial biotechnology applications. The organism grows in a wide variety of media, industrial byproducts, and wastes. A need exists for molecular tools to improve heterologous protein expression and pathway reconstitution. In an effort to identify strong native promoters in glycerol-based media, six highly expressed genes were mined from public data, analyzed, and validated. The promoters from the three most highly expressed (H3, ACBP, and TMAL) were cloned upstream of the reporter mCherry in episomal and integrative vectors. Fluorescence was quantified by flow cytometry and promoter strength was benchmarked with known strong promoters (pFBA1in, pEXP1, and pTEF1in) in cells growing in glucose, glycerol, and synthetic glycerol media. The results show that pH3 > pTMAL > pACBP are very strong promoters, with pH3 exceeding all other tested promoters. Hybrid promoters were also constructed, linking the Upstream Activating Sequence 1B (UAS1B8) with H3(260) or TMAL(250) minimal promoters, and compared to the UAS1B8-TEF1(136) promoter. The new hybrid promoters exhibited far superior strength. The novel promoters were utilized to overexpress the lipase LIP2, achieving very high secretion levels. In conclusion, our research identified and characterized several strong Y. lipolytica promoters that expand the capacity to engineer Yarrowia strains and valorize industrial byproducts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ioannis Georgiadis
- Institute of Applied Biosciences, Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH), 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
- School of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54636 Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Christina Tsiligkaki
- Institute of Applied Biosciences, Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH), 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
- School of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54636 Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Victoria Patavou
- Institute of Applied Biosciences, Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH), 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
- School of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54636 Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Maria Orfanidou
- Institute of Applied Biosciences, Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH), 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
- Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54636 Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Antiopi Tsoureki
- Institute of Applied Biosciences, Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH), 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Aggeliki Andreadelli
- Institute of Applied Biosciences, Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH), 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Eleni Theodosiou
- Institute of Applied Biosciences, Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH), 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Antonios M Makris
- Institute of Applied Biosciences, Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH), 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
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11
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Kim NM, Sinnott RW, Rothschild LN, Sandoval NR. Elucidation of Sequence-Function Relationships for an Improved Biobutanol In Vivo Biosensor in E. coli. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2022; 10:821152. [PMID: 35265600 PMCID: PMC8899819 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.821152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2021] [Accepted: 01/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Transcription factor (TF)–promoter pairs have been repurposed from native hosts to provide tools to measure intracellular biochemical production titer and dynamically control gene expression. Most often, native TF–promoter systems require rigorous screening to obtain desirable characteristics optimized for biotechnological applications. High-throughput techniques may provide a rational and less labor-intensive strategy to engineer user-defined TF–promoter pairs using fluorescence-activated cell sorting and deep sequencing methods (sort-seq). Based on the designed promoter library’s distribution characteristics, we elucidate sequence–function interactions between the TF and DNA. In this work, we use the sort-seq method to study the sequence–function relationship of a σ54-dependent, butanol-responsive TF–promoter pair, BmoR-PBMO derived from Thauera butanivorans, at the nucleotide level to improve biosensor characteristics, specifically an improved dynamic range. Activities of promoters from a mutagenized PBMO library were sorted based on gfp expression and subsequently deep sequenced to correlate site-specific sequences with changes in dynamic range. We identified site-specific mutations that increase the sensor output. Double mutant and a single mutant, CA(129,130)TC and G(205)A, in PBMO promoter increased dynamic ranges of 4-fold and 1.65-fold compared with the native system, respectively. In addition, sort-seq identified essential sites required for the proper function of the σ54-dependent promoter biosensor in the context of the host. This work can enable high-throughput screening methods for strain development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nancy M Kim
- Interdisciplinary Bioinnovation PhD Program, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United States
| | - Riley W Sinnott
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United States
| | - Lily N Rothschild
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United States
| | - Nicholas R Sandoval
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United States
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12
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Tian L, Zhou J, Yang T, Zhang X, Shao M, Xu M, Rao Z. [Efficient cascade biosynthesis of (S)-2-hydroxybutyric acid]. Sheng Wu Gong Cheng Xue Bao 2021; 37:4231-4242. [PMID: 34984870 DOI: 10.13345/j.cjb.210042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
2-Hydroxybutyric acid (2-HBA) is an important intermediate for synthesizing biodegradable materials and various medicines. Chemically synthesized racemized 2-HBA requires deracemization to obtain optically pure enantiomers for industrial application. In this study, we designed a cascade biosynthesis system in Escherichia coli BL21 by coexpressing L-threonine deaminase (TD), NAD-dependent L-lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and formate dehydrogenase (FDH) for production of optically pure (S)-2-HBA from bulk chemical L-threonine (L-Thr). To coordinate the production rate and the consumption rate of the intermediate 2-oxobutyric acid in the multi-enzyme cascade catalytic reactions, we explored promoter engineering to regulate the expression levels of TD and FDH, and developed a recombinant strain P21285FDH-T7V7827 with a tunable system to achieve a coordinated multi-enzyme expression. The recombinant strain P21285FDH-T7V7827 was able to efficiently produce (S)-2-HBA with the highest titer of 143 g/L and a molar yield of 97% achieved within 16 hours. This titer was approximately 1.83 times than that of the highest yield reported to date, showing great potential for industrial application. Our results indicated that constructing a multi-enzyme-coordinated expression system in a single cell significantly contributed to the biosynthesis of hydroxyl acids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lingzhi Tian
- School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu, China
| | - Junping Zhou
- School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu, China
| | - Taowei Yang
- School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu, China
| | - Xian Zhang
- School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu, China
| | - Minglong Shao
- School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu, China
| | - Meijuan Xu
- School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu, China
| | - Zhiming Rao
- School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu, China
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13
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Ergün BG, Berrios J, Binay B, Fickers P. Recombinant protein production in Pichia pastoris: From transcriptionally redesigned strains to bioprocess optimization and metabolic modelling. FEMS Yeast Res 2021; 21:6424904. [PMID: 34755853 DOI: 10.1093/femsyr/foab057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2021] [Accepted: 11/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Pichia pastoris is one of the most widely used host for the production of recombinant proteins. Expression systems that rely mostly on promoters from genes encoding alcohol oxidase 1 or glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase have been developed together with related bioreactor operation strategies based on carbon sources such as methanol, glycerol, or glucose. Although, these processes are relatively efficient and easy to use, there have been notable improvements over the last twenty years to better control gene expression from these promoters and their engineered variants. Methanol-free and more efficient protein production platforms have been developed by engineering promoters and transcription factors. The production window of P. pastoris has been also extended by using alternative feedstocks including ethanol, lactic acid, mannitol, sorbitol, sucrose, xylose, gluconate, formate, or rhamnose. Herein, the specific aspects that are emerging as key parameters for recombinant protein synthesis are discussed. For this purpose, a holistic approach has been considered to scrutinize protein production processes from strain design to bioprocess optimization, particularly focusing on promoter engineering, transcriptional circuitry redesign. This review also considers the optimization of bioprocess based on alternative carbon sources and derived co-feeding strategies. Optimization strategies for recombinant protein synthesis through metabolic modelling are also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Burcu Gündüz Ergün
- Biotechnology Research Center, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, 06330 Ankara, Turkey.,Department of Chemical Engineering, Middle East Technical University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey.,UNAM-National Nanotechnology Research Center, Bilkent University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey
| | - Julio Berrios
- School of Biochemical Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile
| | - Barış Binay
- Department of Bioengineering, Gebze Technical University, Gebze, Kocaeli, Turkey
| | - Patrick Fickers
- TERRA Teaching and Research Centre, University of Liege, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Gembloux, Belgium
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14
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Zhou C, Li M, Lu S, Cheng Y, Guo X, He X, Wang Z, He XP. Engineering of cis-Element in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for Efficient Accumulation of Value-Added Compound Squalene via Downregulation of the Downstream Metabolic Flux. J Agric Food Chem 2021; 69:12474-12484. [PMID: 34662105 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.1c04978] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Transcriptional downregulation is widely used for metabolic flux control. Here, marO, a cis-element of Escherichia coli mar operator, was explored to engineer promoters of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for downregulation. First, the ADH1 promoter (PADH1) and its enhanced variant PUADH1 were engineered by insertion of marO into different sites, which resulted in decrease in both gfp5 transcription and GFP fluorescence intensity to various degrees. Then, marO was applied to engineer the native ERG1 and ERG11 promoters due to their importance for accumulation of value-added intermediates squalene and lanosterol. Elevated squalene content (4.9-fold) or lanosterol content (4.8-fold) and 91 or 28% decrease in ergosterol content resulted from the marO-engineered promoter PERG1(M5) or PERG11(M3), respectively, indicating the validity of the marO-engineered promoters in metabolic flux control. Furthermore, squalene production of 3.53 g/L from cane molasses, a cheap and bulk substrate, suggested the cost-effective and promising potential for squalene production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chenyao Zhou
- CAS Key Laboratory of Microbial Physiological and Metabolic Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Mingjie Li
- CAS Key Laboratory of Microbial Physiological and Metabolic Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Surui Lu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Microbial Physiological and Metabolic Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Yanfei Cheng
- CAS Key Laboratory of Microbial Physiological and Metabolic Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Xuena Guo
- CAS Key Laboratory of Microbial Physiological and Metabolic Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Xiaoxian He
- CAS Key Laboratory of Microbial Physiological and Metabolic Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Zhaoyue Wang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Microbial Physiological and Metabolic Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Xiu-Ping He
- CAS Key Laboratory of Microbial Physiological and Metabolic Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
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15
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Liu Y, Huang Y, Lu R, Xin F, Liu G. Synthetic biology applications of the yeast mating signal pathway. Trends Biotechnol 2021; 40:620-631. [PMID: 34666896 DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2021.09.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2021] [Revised: 09/17/2021] [Accepted: 09/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Cell fusion is a fundamental biological process that is involved in the development of most eukaryotic organisms. During the fusion process in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, cells respond to pheromones to trigger the MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) cascade to initiate mating, followed by polarization, cell-wall remodeling, membrane fusion, and karyogamy. We highlight the applications of the yeast mating signal pathway in promoter engineering for tuning the expression of output genes, as well as in metabolic engineering for decoupling growth and metabolism, biosensors for sensitive detection and signal amplification, genetic circuits for programmable biological functionalities, and artificial consortia for cell-cell communication. Strategies such as exploiting rational engineering of modular circuits and optimizing the reproductive pathway to precisely maneuver physiological events have implications for scientific research and industrial development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ying Liu
- College of Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Jiangsu Province, China
| | - Yuxin Huang
- College of Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Jiangsu Province, China
| | - Ran Lu
- College of Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Jiangsu Province, China
| | - Fengxue Xin
- College of Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Jiangsu Province, China
| | - Guannan Liu
- College of Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Jiangsu Province, China; Jiangsu Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Bio-Manufacture, Nanjing Tech University, Jiangsu Province, China.
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16
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Khobragade TP, Sarak S, Pagar AD, Jeon H, Giri P, Yun H. Synthesis of Sitagliptin Intermediate by a Multi-Enzymatic Cascade System Using Lipase and Transaminase With Benzylamine as an Amino Donor. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2021; 9:757062. [PMID: 34692666 PMCID: PMC8526967 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2021.757062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2021] [Accepted: 09/21/2021] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Herein, we report the development of a multi-enzyme cascade using transaminase (TA), esterase, aldehyde reductase (AHR), and formate dehydrogenase (FDH), using benzylamine as an amino donor to synthesize the industrially important compound sitagliptin intermediate. A panel of 16 TAs was screened using ethyl 3-oxo-4-(2,4,5-trifluorophenyl) butanoate as a substrate (1). Amongst these enzymes, TA from Roseomonas deserti (TARO) was found to be the most suitable, showing the highest activity towards benzylamine (∼70%). The inhibitory effect of benzaldehyde was resolved by using AHR from Synechocystis sp. and FDH from Pseudomonas sp., which catalyzed the conversion of benzaldehyde to benzyl alcohol at the expense of NAD(P)H. Reaction parameters, such as pH, buffer system, and concentration of amino donor, were optimized. A single whole-cell system was developed for co-expressing TARO and esterase, and the promoter engineering strategy was adopted to control the expression level of each biocatalyst. The whole-cell reactions were performed with varying substrate concentrations (10-100 mM), resulting in excellent conversions (ranging from 72 to 91%) into the desired product. Finally, the applicability of this cascade was highlighted on Gram scale, indicating production of 70% of the sitagliptin intermediate with 61% isolated yield. The protocol reported herein may be considered an alternative to existing methods with respect to the use of cheaper amine donors as well as improved synthesis of (R) and (S) enantiomers with the use of non-chiral amino donors.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | - Hyungdon Yun
- Department of Systems Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul, South Korea
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17
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Myburgh MW, Rose SH, Viljoen-Bloom M. Evaluating and engineering Saccharomyces cerevisiae promoters for increased amylase expression and bioethanol production from raw starch. FEMS Yeast Res 2021; 20:5891427. [PMID: 32785598 DOI: 10.1093/femsyr/foaa047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2020] [Accepted: 08/10/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Bioethanol production from starchy biomass via consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) will benefit from amylolytic Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains that produce high levels of recombinant amylases. This could be achieved by using strong promoters and modification thereof to improve gene expression under industrial conditions. This study evaluated eight endogenous S. cerevisiae promoters for the expression of a starch-hydrolysing α-amylase gene. A total of six of the native promoters were modified to contain a promoter-proximal intron directly downstream of the full-length promoter. Varying results were obtained; four native promoters outperformed the ENO1P benchmark under aerobic conditions and two promoters showed better expression under simulated CBP conditions. The addition of the RPS25A intron significantly improved the expression from most promoters, displaying increased transcript levels, protein concentrations and amylase activities. Raw starch-utilising strains were constructed through co-expression of selected α-amylase cassettes and a glucoamylase gene. The amylolytic strains displayed improved fermentation vigour on raw corn starch and broken rice, reaching 97% of the theoretical ethanol yield and converting 100% of the available carbon to products within 120 h in small-scale CBP fermentations on broken rice. This study showed that enhanced amylolytic strains for the conversion of raw starch to ethanol can be achieved through turnkey promoter selection and/or engineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marthinus W Myburgh
- Department of Microbiology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa
| | - Shaunita H Rose
- Department of Microbiology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa
| | - Marinda Viljoen-Bloom
- Department of Microbiology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa
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18
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Abstract
The development of microbial cell factories requires robust synthetic biology tools to reduce design uncertainty and accelerate the design-build-test-learn process. Herein, we developed a suite of integrative genetic tools to facilitate the engineering of Rhodococcus, a genus of bacteria with considerable biocatalytic potential. We first created pRIME, a modular, copy-controlled integrative-vector, to provide a robust platform for strain engineering and characterizing genetic parts. This vector was then employed to benchmark a series of strong promoters. We found PM6 to be the strongest constitutive rhodococcal promoter, 2.5- to 3-fold stronger than the next in our study, while overall promoter activities ranged 23-fold between the weakest and strongest promoters during exponential growth. Next, we used an optimized variant of PM6 to develop hybrid-promoters and integrative vectors to allow for tetracycline-inducible gene expression in Rhodococcus. The best of the resulting hybrid-promoters maintained a maximal activity of ∼50% of PM6 and displayed an induction factor of ∼40-fold. Finally, we developed and implemented a uLoop-derived Golden Gate assembly strategy for high-throughput DNA assembly in Rhodococcus. To demonstrate the utility of our approaches, pRIME was used to engineer Rhodococcus jostii RHA1 to grow on vanillin at concentrations 10-fold higher than what the wild-type strain tolerated. Overall, this study provides a suite of tools that will accelerate the engineering of Rhodococcus for various biocatalytic applications, including the sustainable production of chemicals from lignin-derived aromatics.
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Affiliation(s)
- James W. Round
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Life Sciences Institute, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z3, Canada
| | - Logan D. Robeck
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Life Sciences Institute, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z3, Canada
| | - Lindsay D. Eltis
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Life Sciences Institute, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z3, Canada
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19
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Cazier AP, Blazeck J. Advances in promoter engineering: novel applications and predefined transcriptional control. Biotechnol J 2021; 16:e2100239. [PMID: 34351706 DOI: 10.1002/biot.202100239] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2021] [Revised: 07/30/2021] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Synthetic biology continues to progress by relying on more robust tools for transcriptional control, of which promoters are the most fundamental component. Numerous studies have sought to characterize promoter function, determine principles to guide their engineering, and create promoters with stronger expression or tailored inducible control. In this review, we will summarize promoter architecture and highlight recent advances in the field, focusing on the novel applications of inducible promoter design and engineering towards metabolic engineering and cellular therapeutic development. Additionally, we will highlight how the expansion of new, machine learning techniques for modeling and engineering promoter sequences are enabling more accurate prediction of promoter characteristics. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew P Cazier
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 311 Ferst St. NW, Atlanta, Georgia, 30332, USA
| | - John Blazeck
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 311 Ferst St. NW, Atlanta, Georgia, 30332, USA
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20
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Khobragade TP, Yu S, Jung H, Patil MD, Sarak S, Pagar AD, Jeon H, Lee S, Giri P, Kim GH, Cho SS, Park SH, Park HJ, Kang HM, Lee SR, Lee MS, Kim JH, Choi IS, Yun H. Promoter engineering-mediated Tuning of esterase and transaminase expression for the chemoenzymatic synthesis of sitagliptin phosphate at the kilogram-scale. Biotechnol Bioeng 2021; 118:3263-3268. [PMID: 33990942 DOI: 10.1002/bit.27819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2021] [Revised: 05/06/2021] [Accepted: 05/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Here, we report a bienzymatic cascade to produce β-amino acids as an intermediate for the synthesis of the leading oral antidiabetic drug, sitagliptin. A whole-cell biotransformation using recombinant Escherichia coli coexpressing a esterase and transaminase were developed, wherein the desired expression level of each enzyme was achieved by promotor engineering. The small-scale reactions (30 ml) performed under optimized conditions at varying amounts of substrate (100-300 mM) resulted in excellent conversions of 82%-95% for the desired product. Finally, a kilogram-scale enzymatic reaction (250 mM substrate, 220 L) was carried out to produce β-amino acid (229 mM). Sitagliptin phosphate was chemically synthesized from β-amino acids with 82% yield and > 99% purity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taresh P Khobragade
- Department of Systems Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul, Gwangjin-gu, South Korea
| | - Seongseon Yu
- CKD Bio Research Institute, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
| | - Hyunsang Jung
- Department of Systems Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul, Gwangjin-gu, South Korea
| | - Mahesh D Patil
- Department of Systems Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul, Gwangjin-gu, South Korea
| | - Sharad Sarak
- Department of Systems Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul, Gwangjin-gu, South Korea
| | - Amol D Pagar
- Department of Systems Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul, Gwangjin-gu, South Korea
| | - Hyunwoo Jeon
- Department of Systems Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul, Gwangjin-gu, South Korea
| | - Somin Lee
- Department of Systems Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul, Gwangjin-gu, South Korea
| | - Pritam Giri
- Department of Systems Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul, Gwangjin-gu, South Korea
| | - Geon-Hee Kim
- CKD Bio Research Institute, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
| | - Sung-Su Cho
- CKD Bio Research Institute, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
| | - Seong-Hwa Park
- CKD Bio Research Institute, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
| | - Hye-Jung Park
- CKD Bio Research Institute, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
| | - Heung M Kang
- CKD Bio Research Institute, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
| | - Sung R Lee
- CKD Bio Research Institute, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
| | - Myeong S Lee
- CKD Bio Research Institute, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
| | - Jeong H Kim
- CKD Bio Research Institute, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
| | - In S Choi
- CKD Bio Research Institute, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
| | - Hyungdon Yun
- Department of Systems Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul, Gwangjin-gu, South Korea
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21
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Abstract
Transcription factor (TF)-based biosensors have proven useful for increasing biomanufacturing yields, large-scale functional screening, and in environmental monitoring. Most yeast TF-based biosensors are built from natural promoters, resulting in large DNA parts retaining considerable homology to the host genome, which can complicate biological engineering efforts. There is a need to explore smaller, synthetic biosensors to expand the options for regulating gene expression in yeast. Here, we present a systematic approach to improving the design of an existing oxidative stress sensing biosensor in Saccharomyces cerevisiae based on the Yap1 transcription factor. Starting from a synthetic core promoter, we optimized the activity of a Yap1-dependent promoter through rational modification of a minimalist Yap1 upstream activating sequence. Our novel promoter achieves dynamic ranges of activation surpassing those of the previously engineered Yap1-dependent promoter, while reducing it to only 171 base pairs. We demonstrate that coupling the promoter to a positive-feedback-regulated TF further improves the biosensor by increasing its dynamic range of activation and reducing its limit of detection. We have illustrated the robustness and transferability of the biosensor by reproducing its activity in an unconventional probiotic yeast strain, Saccharomyces boulardii. Our findings can provide guidance in the general process of TF-based biosensor design.
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Affiliation(s)
- Louis C Dacquay
- Dept of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Harbord St, Toronto, ON M5S 3G5, Canada.,Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Rd, Mississauga ON L5L 1C6, Canada
| | - David R McMillen
- Dept of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Harbord St, Toronto, ON M5S 3G5, Canada.,Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Rd, Mississauga ON L5L 1C6, Canada.,Departments of Chemistry and Physics, University of Toronto, 80 St. George St., Toronto ON M5S 3H6, Canada
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22
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Bandi CK, Skalenko KS, Agrawal A, Sivaneri N, Thiry M, Chundawat SPS. Engineered Regulon to Enable Autonomous Azide Ion Biosensing, Recombinant Protein Production, and in Vivo Glycoengineering. ACS Synth Biol 2021; 10:682-689. [PMID: 33749248 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.0c00449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Detection of azide-tagged biomolecules (e.g., azido sugars) inside living cells using "click" chemistry has been revolutionary to the field of chemical biology. However, we currently still lack suitable synthetic biology tools to autonomously and rapidly detect azide ions. Here, we have developed an engineered synthetic promoter system called cyn regulon, and complementary Escherichia coli engineered strains, to selectively detect azide ions and autonomously induce downstream expression of reporter genes. The engineered cyn azide operon allowed highly tunable reporter green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression over three orders of inducer azide ion concentrations (0.01-5 mM) and rapidly induced GFP expression by over 600-fold compared to the uninduced control. Next, we showcase the superior performance of this engineered cyn-operon over the classical lac-operon for recombinant protein production. Finally, we highlight how this synthetic biology toolkit can enable glycoengineering-based applications by facilitating in vivo activity screening of mutant carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes), called glycosynthases, using azido sugars as donor substrates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chandra Kanth Bandi
- Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 98 Brett Road, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, United States
| | - Kyle S. Skalenko
- Department of Genetics and Waksman Institute, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 190 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, United States
| | - Ayushi Agrawal
- Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 98 Brett Road, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, United States
| | - Neelan Sivaneri
- Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 98 Brett Road, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, United States
| | - Margaux Thiry
- Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 98 Brett Road, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, United States
| | - Shishir P. S. Chundawat
- Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 98 Brett Road, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, United States
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23
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Abstract
Microalgal biotechnology promises sustainable light-driven production of valuable bioproducts and addresses urgent demands to attain a sustainable economy. However, to unfold its full potential as a platform for biotechnology, new and powerful tools for nuclear engineering need to be established. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, the model for microalgal synthetic biology and genetic engineering has already been used to produce various bioproducts. Nevertheless, low transgene titers, the lack of potent expression elements, and sparse comparative evaluation prevents further development of C. reinhardtii as a biotechnological host. By systematically evaluating existing expression elements combined with rational promoter engineering, we established novel synthetic expression elements, improved the standardized application of synthetic biology tools, and unveiled an existing synergism between the PSAD 5' UTR and its corresponding chloroplast targeting peptide. Promoter engineering strategies, implemented in a newly designed synthetic algal promoter, increased the production of the sesquiterpene (E)-α-bisabolene by 18-fold compared to its native version and 4-fold to commonly used expression elements. Our results improve the application of synthetic biology in microalgae and display a significant step toward establishing C. reinhardtii as a sustainable green cell-factory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Einhaus
- Bielefeld University, Faculty of Biology, Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec), Universitaetsstrasse 27, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Thomas Baier
- Bielefeld University, Faculty of Biology, Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec), Universitaetsstrasse 27, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Marian Rosenstengel
- Bielefeld University, Faculty of Biology, Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec), Universitaetsstrasse 27, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Robert A. Freudenberg
- Bielefeld University, Faculty of Biology, Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec), Universitaetsstrasse 27, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Olaf Kruse
- Bielefeld University, Faculty of Biology, Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec), Universitaetsstrasse 27, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
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24
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Romero-Suarez D, Wulff T, Rong Y, Jakočiu̅nas T, Yuzawa S, Keasling JD, Jensen MK. A Reporter System for Cytosolic Protein Aggregates in Yeast. ACS Synth Biol 2021; 10:466-477. [PMID: 33577304 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.0c00476] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Protein misfolding and aggregation are linked to neurodegenerative diseases of mammals and suboptimal protein expression within biotechnology. Tools for monitoring protein aggregates are therefore useful for studying disease-related aggregation and for improving soluble protein expression in heterologous hosts for biotechnology purposes. In this work, we developed a promoter-reporter system for aggregated protein on the basis of the yeast native response to misfolded protein. To this end, we first studied the proteome of yeast in response to the expression of folded soluble and aggregation-prone protein baits and identified genes encoding proteins related to protein folding and the response to heat stress as well as the ubiquitin-proteasome system that are over-represented in cells expressing an aggregation-prone protein. From these data, we created and validated promoter-reporter constructs and further engineered the best performing promoters by increasing the copy number of upstream activating sequences and optimization of culture conditions. Our best promoter-reporter has an output dynamic range of approximately 12-fold upon expression of the aggregation-prone protein and responded to increasing levels of aggregated protein. Finally, we demonstrate that the system can discriminate between yeast cells expressing different prion precursor proteins and select the cells expressing folded soluble protein from mixed populations. Our reporter system is thus a simple tool for diagnosing protein aggregates in living cells and should be applicable for the health and biotechnology industries.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Romero-Suarez
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby 2800, Denmark
| | - Tune Wulff
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby 2800, Denmark
| | - Yixin Rong
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby 2800, Denmark
| | - Tadas Jakočiu̅nas
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby 2800, Denmark
| | - Satoshi Yuzawa
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, California 94608, United States
- Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Jay D. Keasling
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby 2800, Denmark
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, California 94608, United States
- Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
- Center for Synthetic Biochemistry, Institute for Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technologies, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China
| | - Michael K. Jensen
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby 2800, Denmark
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25
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Chen H, Sun T, Bai X, Yang J, Yan F, Yu L, Tu Q, Li A, Tang Y, Zhang Y, Bian X, Zhou H. Genomics-Driven Activation of Silent Biosynthetic Gene Clusters in Burkholderia gladioli by Screening Recombineering System. Molecules 2021; 26:700. [PMID: 33572733 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26030700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2020] [Revised: 01/19/2021] [Accepted: 01/21/2021] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The Burkholderia genus possesses ecological and metabolic diversities. A large number of silent biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in the Burkholderia genome remain uncharacterized and represent a promising resource for new natural product discovery. However, exploitation of the metabolomic potential of Burkholderia is limited by the absence of efficient genetic manipulation tools. Here, we screened a bacteriophage recombinase system Redγ-BAS, which was functional for genome modification in the plant pathogen Burkholderia gladioli ATCC 10248. By using this recombineering tool, the constitutive promoters were precisely inserted in the genome, leading to activation of two silent nonribosomal peptide synthetase gene clusters (bgdd and hgdd) and production of corresponding new classes of lipopeptides, burriogladiodins A–H (1–8) and haereogladiodins A–B (9–10). Structure elucidation revealed an unnatural amino acid Z- dehydrobutyrine (Dhb) in 1–8 and an E-Dhb in 9–10. Notably, compounds 2–4 and 9 feature an unusual threonine tag that is longer than the predicted collinearity assembly lines. The structural diversity of burriogladiodins was derived from the relaxed substrate specificity of the fifth adenylation domain as well as chain termination conducted by water or threonine. The recombinase-mediating genome editing system is not only applicable in B. gladioli, but also possesses great potential for mining meaningful silent gene clusters from other Burkholderia species.
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Luo JM, Zhu WC, Cao ST, Lu ZY, Zhang MH, Song B, Shen YB, Wang M. Improving Biotransformation Efficiency of Arthrobacter simplex by Enhancement of Cell Stress Tolerance and Enzyme Activity. J Agric Food Chem 2021; 69:704-716. [PMID: 33406824 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.0c06592] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Arthrobacter simplex exhibits excellent Δ1-dehydrogenation ability, but the acquisition of the desirable strain is limited due to lacking of comprehensive genetic manipulation. Herein, a promoter collection for fine-tuning gene expression was achieved. Next, the expression level was enhanced and directed evolution of the global transcriptional factor (IrrE) was applied to enhance cell viability in systems containing more substrate and ethanol, thus contributing to higher production. IrrE promotes a stronger antioxidant defense system, more energy generation, and changed signal transduction. Using a stronger promoter, the enzyme activities were boosted but their positive effects on biotransformation performance were inferior to cell stress tolerance when exposed to challenging systems. Finally, an optimal strain was created by collectively reinforcing cell stress tolerance and catalytic enzyme activity, achieving a yield 261.8% higher relative to the initial situation. Our study provided effective methods for steroid-transforming strains with high efficiency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jian-Mei Luo
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Fermentation Microbiology (Tianjin University of Science and Technology), Ministry of Education, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Industrial Microbiology, College of Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, P. R. China
| | - Wen-Cheng Zhu
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Fermentation Microbiology (Tianjin University of Science and Technology), Ministry of Education, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Industrial Microbiology, College of Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, P. R. China
| | - Shu-Ting Cao
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Fermentation Microbiology (Tianjin University of Science and Technology), Ministry of Education, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Industrial Microbiology, College of Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, P. R. China
| | - Zhi-Yi Lu
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Fermentation Microbiology (Tianjin University of Science and Technology), Ministry of Education, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Industrial Microbiology, College of Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, P. R. China
| | - Meng-Han Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Fermentation Microbiology (Tianjin University of Science and Technology), Ministry of Education, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Industrial Microbiology, College of Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, P. R. China
| | - Bo Song
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Fermentation Microbiology (Tianjin University of Science and Technology), Ministry of Education, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Industrial Microbiology, College of Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, P. R. China
| | - Yan-Bing Shen
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Fermentation Microbiology (Tianjin University of Science and Technology), Ministry of Education, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Industrial Microbiology, College of Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, P. R. China
| | - Min Wang
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Fermentation Microbiology (Tianjin University of Science and Technology), Ministry of Education, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Industrial Microbiology, College of Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, P. R. China
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27
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Abstract
![]()
Violacein is a naturally
occurring anticancer therapeutic compound
with deep purple color. In this work, we harnessed the modular and
combinatorial feature of a Golden Gate assembly method to construct
a library of violacein producing strains in the oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica, where each gene in the violacein pathway
was controlled by three different promoters with varying transcriptional
strength. After optimizing the linker sequence and the Golden Gate
reaction, we achieved high transformation efficiency and obtained
a panel of representative Y. lipolytica recombinant
strains. By evaluating the gene expression profile of 21 yeast strains,
we obtained three colorful compounds in the violacein pathway: green
(proviolacein), purple (violacein), and pink (deoxyviolacein). Our
results indicated that strong expression of VioB, VioC, and VioD favors violacein production
with minimal byproduct deoxyvioalcein in Y. lipolytica, and high deoxyviolacein production was found strongly associated
with the weak expression of VioD. By further optimizing
the carbon to nitrogen ratio and cultivation pH, the maximum violacein
reached 70.04 mg/L with 5.28 mg/L of deoxyviolacein in shake flasks.
Taken together, the development of Golden Gate cloning protocols to
build combinatorial pathway libraries, and the optimization of culture
conditions set a new stage for accessing the violacein pathway intermediates
and engineering violacein production in Y. lipolytica. This work further expands the toolbox to engineering Y.
lipolytica as an industrially relevant host for plant or
marine natural product biosynthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingjia Tong
- School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China
- Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland 21250, United States
| | - Jingwen Zhou
- School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China
| | - Liang Zhang
- School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China
| | - Peng Xu
- Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland 21250, United States
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28
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Su C, Tuan NQ, Lee MJ, Zhang XY, Cheng JH, Jin YY, Zhao XQ, Suh JW. Enhanced Production of Active Ecumicin Component with Higher Antituberculosis Activity by the Rare Actinomycete Nonomuraea sp. MJM5123 Using a Novel Promoter-Engineering Strategy. ACS Synth Biol 2020; 9:3019-3029. [PMID: 32916055 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.0c00248] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Ecumicins are potent antituberculosis natural compounds produced by the rare actinomycete Nonomuraea sp. MJM5123. Here, we report an efficient genetic manipulation platform of this rare actinomycete. CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing was achieved based on successful sporulation. Two genes in the ecumicin gene cluster were further investigated, ecuN and ecuE, which potentially encode a pretailoring cytochrome P450 hydroxylase and the core peptide synthase, respectively. Deletion of ecuN led to an enhanced ratio of the ecumicin compound EcuH16 relative to that of EcuH14, indicating that EcuN is indeed a P450 hydroxylase, and there is catalyzed hydroxylation at the C-3 position in unit12 phenylalanine to transform EcuH16 to the compound EcuH14. Furthermore, promoter engineering of ecuE by employing the strong promoter kasO*P was performed and optimized. We found that integrating the endogenous ribosome-binding site (RBS) of ecuE together with the RBS from kasO*P led to improved ecumicin production and resulted in a remarkably high EcuH16/EcuH14 ratio. Importantly, production of the more active component EcuH16 was considerably increased in the double RBSs engineered strain EPR1 compared to that in the wild-type strain, reaching 310 mg/L. At the same time, this production level was 2.3 times higher than that of the control strain EPA1 with only one RBS from kasO*P. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of genome editing and promoter engineering on the rare actinomycete Nonomuraea.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chun Su
- National Engineering Laboratory for Resource Developing of Endangered Chinese Crude Drugs in Northwest China, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, China
- Center for Nutraceutical and Pharmaceutical Materials, Myongji University, Yongin, Gyeonggi, 17058, Republic of Korea
| | - Nguyen-Quang Tuan
- Center for Nutraceutical and Pharmaceutical Materials, Myongji University, Yongin, Gyeonggi, 17058, Republic of Korea
| | - Mi-Jin Lee
- Center for Nutraceutical and Pharmaceutical Materials, Myongji University, Yongin, Gyeonggi, 17058, Republic of Korea
| | - Xia-Ying Zhang
- National Engineering Laboratory for Resource Developing of Endangered Chinese Crude Drugs in Northwest China, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, China
| | - Jin-Hua Cheng
- Center for Nutraceutical and Pharmaceutical Materials, Myongji University, Yongin, Gyeonggi, 17058, Republic of Korea
| | - Ying-Yu Jin
- Center for Nutraceutical and Pharmaceutical Materials, Myongji University, Yongin, Gyeonggi, 17058, Republic of Korea
- R&D Center, MANBANGBIO CO., LTD, Cheoingu, Yongin, Gyeonggi-Do 17058, Republic of Korea
| | - Xin-Qing Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, Joint International Research Laboratory of Metabolic & Developmental Sciences, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Joo-Won Suh
- Center for Nutraceutical and Pharmaceutical Materials, Myongji University, Yongin, Gyeonggi, 17058, Republic of Korea
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29
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Yu L, Du F, Chen X, Zheng Y, Morton M, Liu F, Du L. Identification of the Biosynthetic Gene Cluster for the anti-MRSA Lysocins through Gene Cluster Activation Using Strong Promoters of Housekeeping Genes and Production of New Analogs in Lysobacter sp. 3655. ACS Synth Biol 2020; 9:1989-1997. [PMID: 32610008 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.0c00067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The Gram-negative gliding bacteria Lysobacter represent a new and rich source for bioactive natural products. In an effort to discover new antibiotics, we found a cryptic biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) in Lysobacter sp. 3655 that shared a high similarity with the putative lysocin BGC identified in silico previously from Lysobacter sp. RH2180-5. Lysocins are cyclic lipodepsipeptides with potent activity against MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) using a novel mode of action, but the lysocin BGC had not been experimentally verified so far. Using an activity-guided screening, we isolated the main antibiotic compound and confirmed it to be lysocin E. However, the putative lysocin BGC was barely transcribed in the wild type, in which lysocins were produced only in specific conditions and in a negligible amount. To activate the putative lysocin BGC, we screened for strongly transcribed housekeeping genes in strain 3655 and found several powerful promoters. Upon engineering the promoters into the BGC, the lysocin gene transcription was significantly enhanced and the lysocin yield was markedly increased. With readily detectable lysocins production in the engineered strains, we showed that lysocin production was abolished in the gene deletion mutant and then restored in the complementary strain, even when grown in conditions that did not support the wild type for lysocin production. Moreover, the engineered strain produced multiple new lysocin congeners. The determination of the lysocin BGC and the Lysobacter promoters will facilitate the ongoing efforts for yield improvement and new antibiotic biosynthesis using synthetic biology strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lingjun Yu
- Institute of Plant Protection, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, 210014, China
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588, United States
| | - Fengyu Du
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588, United States
- College of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, 266109, China
| | - Xusheng Chen
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588, United States
- School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China
| | - Yongbiao Zheng
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588, United States
- College of Life Sciences, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, 350117, China
| | - Martha Morton
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588, United States
| | - Fengquan Liu
- Institute of Plant Protection, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, 210014, China
| | - Liangcheng Du
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588, United States
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30
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Tang H, Wu Y, Deng J, Chen N, Zheng Z, Wei Y, Luo X, Keasling JD. Promoter Architecture and Promoter Engineering in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Metabolites 2020; 10:metabo10080320. [PMID: 32781665 PMCID: PMC7466126 DOI: 10.3390/metabo10080320] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2020] [Revised: 07/30/2020] [Accepted: 08/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Promoters play an essential role in the regulation of gene expression for fine-tuning genetic circuits and metabolic pathways in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae). However, native promoters in S. cerevisiae have several limitations which hinder their applications in metabolic engineering. These limitations include an inadequate number of well-characterized promoters, poor dynamic range, and insufficient orthogonality to endogenous regulations. Therefore, it is necessary to perform promoter engineering to create synthetic promoters with better properties. Here, we review recent advances related to promoter architecture, promoter engineering and synthetic promoter applications in S. cerevisiae. We also provide a perspective of future directions in this field with an emphasis on the recent advances of machine learning based promoter designs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongting Tang
- Center for Synthetic Biochemistry, Shenzhen Institutes for Advanced Technologies, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China; (H.T.); (Y.W.); (J.D.); (N.C.); (Z.Z.)
| | - Yanling Wu
- Center for Synthetic Biochemistry, Shenzhen Institutes for Advanced Technologies, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China; (H.T.); (Y.W.); (J.D.); (N.C.); (Z.Z.)
| | - Jiliang Deng
- Center for Synthetic Biochemistry, Shenzhen Institutes for Advanced Technologies, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China; (H.T.); (Y.W.); (J.D.); (N.C.); (Z.Z.)
| | - Nanzhu Chen
- Center for Synthetic Biochemistry, Shenzhen Institutes for Advanced Technologies, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China; (H.T.); (Y.W.); (J.D.); (N.C.); (Z.Z.)
| | - Zhaohui Zheng
- Center for Synthetic Biochemistry, Shenzhen Institutes for Advanced Technologies, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China; (H.T.); (Y.W.); (J.D.); (N.C.); (Z.Z.)
| | - Yongjun Wei
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Key Laboratory of Advanced Drug Preparation Technologies, Ministry of Education, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China;
| | - Xiaozhou Luo
- Center for Synthetic Biochemistry, Shenzhen Institutes for Advanced Technologies, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China; (H.T.); (Y.W.); (J.D.); (N.C.); (Z.Z.)
- Correspondence: (X.L.); (J.D.K.)
| | - Jay D. Keasling
- Center for Synthetic Biochemistry, Shenzhen Institutes for Advanced Technologies, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China; (H.T.); (Y.W.); (J.D.); (N.C.); (Z.Z.)
- Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, CA 94608, USA
- Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering & Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
- Correspondence: (X.L.); (J.D.K.)
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31
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Miao CC, Han LL, Lu YB, Feng H. Construction of a High-Expression System in Bacillus through Transcriptomic Profiling and Promoter Engineering. Microorganisms 2020; 8:E1030. [PMID: 32664655 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms8071030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2020] [Revised: 06/26/2020] [Accepted: 07/09/2020] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Bacillus subtilis is an ideal host for secretion and expression of foreign proteins. The promoter is one of the most important elements to facilitate the high-level production of recombinant protein. To expand the repertoire of strong promoters for biotechnological applications in Bacillus species, 14 highly transcribed genes based on transcriptome profiling of B. pumilus BA06 were selected and evaluated for their promoter strength in B. subtilis. Consequently, a strong promoter P2069 was obtained, which could drive the genes encoding alkaline protease (aprE) and green fluorescent protein (GFP) to express more efficiency by an increase of 3.65-fold and 18.40-fold in comparison with the control promoter (PaprE), respectively. Further, promoter engineering was applied to P2069, leading to a mutation promoter (P2069M) that could increase GFP expression by 3.67-fold over the wild-type promoter (P2069). Moreover, the IPTG-inducible expression systems were constructed using the lac operon based on the strong promoters of P2069 and P2069M, which could work well both in B. subtilis and B. pumilus. In this study, highly efficient expression system for Bacillus was constructed based on transcriptome data and promoter engineering, which provide not only a new option for recombinant expression in B. subtilis, but also novel genetic tool for B. pumilus.
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32
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Han L, Chen Q, Lin Q, Cheng J, Zhou L, Liu Z, Guo J, Zhang L, Cui W, Zhou Z. Realization of Robust and Precise Regulation of Gene Expression by Multiple Sigma Recognizable Artificial Promoters. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2020; 8:92. [PMID: 32140461 PMCID: PMC7042180 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2020.00092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2019] [Accepted: 01/31/2020] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Precise regulation of gene expression is fundamental for tailor-made gene circuit design in synthetic biology. Current strategies for this type of development are mainly based on directed evolution beginning with a native promoter template. The performances of engineered promoters are usually limited by the growth phase because only one promoter is recognized by one type of sigma factor (σ). Here, we constructed multiple-σ recognizable artificial hybrid promoters (AHPs) composed of tandems of dual and triple natural minimal promoters (NMPs). These NMPs, which use σA, σH and σW, had stable functions in different growth phases. The functions of these NMPs resulted from an effect called transcription compensation, in which AHPs sequentially use one type of σ in the corresponding growth phase. The strength of the AHPs was influenced by the combinatorial order of each NMP and the length of the spacers between the NMPs. More importantly, the output of the precise regulation was achieved by equipping AHPs with synthetic ribosome binding sites and by redesigning them for induced systems. This strategy might offer promising applications to rationally design robust synthetic promoters in diverse chassis to spur the construction of more complex gene circuits, which will further the development of synthetic biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laichuang Han
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Qiaoqing Chen
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Qiao Lin
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Jintao Cheng
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Li Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Zhongmei Liu
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Junling Guo
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Linpei Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Wenjing Cui
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Zhemin Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
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33
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Sun X, Zhang X, Huang H, Wang Y, Tu T, Bai Y, Wang Y, Zhang J, Luo H, Yao B, Su X. Engineering the cbh1 Promoter of Trichoderma reesei for Enhanced Protein Production by Replacing the Binding Sites of a Transcription Repressor ACE1 to Those of the Activators. J Agric Food Chem 2020; 68:1337-1346. [PMID: 31933359 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.9b05452] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The strong and inducible cbh1 promoter is most widely used to express heterologous proteins, useful in food and feed industries, in Trichoderma reesei. Enhancing its ability to direct transcription provides a general strategy to improve protein production in T. reesei. The cbh1 promoter was engineered by replacing eight binding sites of the transcription repressor ACE1 to those of the activators ACE2, Hap2/3/5, and Xyr1. While changing ACE1 to Hap2/3/5-binding sites completely abolished the transcription ability, replacements with ACE2- and Xyr1-binding sites (designated cbh1pA and cbh1pX promoters, respectively) largely improved the promoter transcription efficiency, as reflected by expression of a reporter gene DsRed. The cbh1pA and cbh1pX promoters were applied to improve secretory expression of a codon-optimized mannanase from Aspergillus niger to 3.6- and 5.0-fold higher, respectively, which has high application potential in feed industry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xianhua Sun
- Key Laboratory for Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute , Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , Beijing 100081 , China
| | - Xuhuan Zhang
- Biotechnology Research Institute , Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , Beijing 100081 , People's Republic of China
| | - Huoqing Huang
- Key Laboratory for Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute , Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , Beijing 100081 , China
| | - Yuan Wang
- Key Laboratory for Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute , Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , Beijing 100081 , China
| | - Tao Tu
- Key Laboratory for Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute , Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , Beijing 100081 , China
| | - Yingguo Bai
- Key Laboratory for Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute , Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , Beijing 100081 , China
| | - Yaru Wang
- Key Laboratory for Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute , Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , Beijing 100081 , China
| | - Jie Zhang
- Key Laboratory for Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute , Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , Beijing 100081 , China
| | - Huiying Luo
- Key Laboratory for Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute , Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , Beijing 100081 , China
| | - Bin Yao
- Key Laboratory for Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute , Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , Beijing 100081 , China
| | - Xiaoyun Su
- Key Laboratory for Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute , Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , Beijing 100081 , China
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34
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Ren J, Lee J, Na D. Recent advances in genetic engineering tools based on synthetic biology. J Microbiol 2020; 58:1-10. [PMID: 31898252 DOI: 10.1007/s12275-020-9334-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2019] [Revised: 08/19/2019] [Accepted: 11/05/2019] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Genome-scale engineering is a crucial methodology to rationally regulate microbiological system operations, leading to expected biological behaviors or enhanced bioproduct yields. Over the past decade, innovative genome modification technologies have been developed for effectively regulating and manipulating genes at the genome level. Here, we discuss the current genome-scale engineering technologies used for microbial engineering. Recently developed strategies, such as clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas9, multiplex automated genome engineering (MAGE), promoter engineering, CRISPR-based regulations, and synthetic small regulatory RNA (sRNA)-based knockdown, are considered as powerful tools for genome-scale engineering in microbiological systems. MAGE, which modifies specific nucleotides of the genome sequence, is utilized as a genome-editing tool. Contrastingly, synthetic sRNA, CRISPRi, and CRISPRa are mainly used to regulate gene expression without modifying the genome sequence. This review introduces the recent genome-scale editing and regulating technologies and their applications in metabolic engineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun Ren
- School of Integrative Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea
| | - Jingyu Lee
- School of Integrative Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea
| | - Dokyun Na
- School of Integrative Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea.
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35
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Chen A, Sherman MW, Chu C, Gonzalez N, Patel T, Contreras LM. Discovery and Characterization of Native Deinococcus radiodurans Promoters for Tunable Gene Expression. Appl Environ Microbiol 2019; 85:e01356-19. [PMID: 31471304 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.01356-19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2019] [Accepted: 08/26/2019] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
The potential utilization of extremophiles as a robust chassis for metabolic engineering applications has prompted interest in the use of Deinococcus radiodurans for bioremediation efforts, but current applications are limited by the lack of availability of genetic tools, such as promoters. In this study, we used a combined computational and experimental approach to identify and screen 30 predicted promoters for expression in D. radiodurans using a fluorescent reporter assay. The top eight candidates were further characterized, compared to currently available promoters, and optimized for engineering through minimization for use in D. radiodurans Of these top eight, two promoter regions, PDR_1261 and PrpmB, were stronger and more consistent than the most widely used promoter sequence in D. radiodurans, PgroES Furthermore, half of the top eight promoters could be minimized by at least 20% (to obtain final sequences that are approximately 24 to 177 bp), and several of the putative promoters either showed activity in Escherichia coli or were D. radiodurans specific, broadening the use of the promoters for various applications. Overall, this work introduces a suite of novel, well-characterized promoters for protein production and metabolic engineering in D. radiodurans IMPORTANCE The tolerance of the extremophile, Deinococcus radiodurans, to numerous oxidative stresses makes it ideal for bioremediation applications, but many of the tools necessary for metabolic engineering are lacking in this organism compared to model bacteria. Although native and engineered promoters have been used to drive gene expression for protein production in D. radiodurans, very few have been well characterized. Informed by bioinformatics, this study expands the repertoire of well-characterized promoters for D. radiodurans via thorough characterization of eight putative promoters with various strengths. These results will help facilitate tunable gene expression, since these promoters demonstrate strong and consistent performance compared to the current standard, PgroES This study also provides a methodology for high-throughput promoter identification and characterization using fluorescence in D. radiodurans The promoters identified in this study will facilitate metabolic engineering of D. radiodurans and enable its use in biotechnological applications ranging from bioremediation to synthesis of commodity chemicals.
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36
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Dabirian Y, Li X, Chen Y, David F, Nielsen J, Siewers V. Expanding the Dynamic Range of a Transcription Factor-Based Biosensor in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. ACS Synth Biol 2019; 8:1968-1975. [PMID: 31373795 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.9b00144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Metabolite biosensors are useful tools for high-throughput screening approaches and pathway regulation approaches. An important feature of biosensors is the dynamic range. To expand the maximum dynamic range of a transcription factor-based biosensor in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, using the fapO/FapR system from Bacillus subtilis as an example case, five native promoters, including constitutive and glucose-regulated ones, were modified. By evaluating different binding site (BS) positions in the core promoters, we identified locations that resulted in a high maximum dynamic range with low expression under repressed conditions. We further identified BS positions in the upstream element region of the TEF1 promoter that did not influence the native promoter strength but resulted in repression in the presence of a chimeric repressor consisting of FapR and the yeast repressor Mig1. These modified promoters with broad dynamic ranges will provide useful information for the engineering of future biosensors and their use in complex genetic circuits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasaman Dabirian
- Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, SE-41296, Sweden
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, SE-41296, Sweden
| | - Xiaowei Li
- Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, SE-41296, Sweden
| | - Yun Chen
- Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, SE-41296, Sweden
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, SE-41296, Sweden
| | - Florian David
- Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, SE-41296, Sweden
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, SE-41296, Sweden
| | - Jens Nielsen
- Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, SE-41296, Sweden
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, SE-41296, Sweden
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby DK-2800, Denmark
- Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China
| | - Verena Siewers
- Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, SE-41296, Sweden
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, SE-41296, Sweden
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37
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Kim SH, Lu W, Ahmadi MK, Montiel D, Ternei MA, Brady SF. Atolypenes, Tricyclic Bacterial Sesterterpenes Discovered Using a Multiplexed In Vitro Cas9-TAR Gene Cluster Refactoring Approach. ACS Synth Biol 2019; 8:109-118. [PMID: 30575381 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.8b00361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Most natural product biosynthetic gene clusters identified in bacterial genomic and metagenomic sequencing efforts are silent under laboratory growth conditions. Here, we describe a scalable biosynthetic gene cluster activation method wherein the gene clusters are disassembled at interoperonic regions in vitro using CRISPR/Cas9 and then reassembled with PCR-amplified, short DNAs, carrying synthetic promoters, using transformation assisted recombination (TAR) in yeast. This simple, cost-effective, and scalable method allows for the simultaneous generation of combinatorial libraries of refactored gene clusters, eliminating the need to understand the transcriptional hierarchy of the silent genes. In two test cases, this in vitro disassembly-TAR reassembly method was used to create collections of promoter-replaced gene clusters that were tested in parallel to identify versions that enabled secondary metabolite production. Activation of the atolypene ( ato) gene cluster led to the characterization of two unprecedented bacterial cyclic sesterterpenes, atolypene A (1) and B (2), which are moderately cytotoxic to human cancer cell lines. This streamlined in vitro disassembly- in vivo reassembly method offers a simplified approach for silent gene cluster refactoring that should facilitate the discovery of natural products from silent gene clusters cloned from either metagenomes or cultured bacteria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seong-Hwan Kim
- Laboratory of Genetically Encoded Small Molecules, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, United States
| | - Wanli Lu
- Laboratory of Genetically Encoded Small Molecules, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, United States
| | - Mahmoud Kamal Ahmadi
- Laboratory of Genetically Encoded Small Molecules, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, United States
| | - Daniel Montiel
- Laboratory of Genetically Encoded Small Molecules, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, United States
| | - Melinda A. Ternei
- Laboratory of Genetically Encoded Small Molecules, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, United States
| | - Sean F. Brady
- Laboratory of Genetically Encoded Small Molecules, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, United States
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38
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Wang Y, Liu Q, Weng H, Shi Y, Chen J, Du G, Kang Z. Construction of Synthetic Promoters by Assembling the Sigma Factor Binding -35 and -10 Boxes. Biotechnol J 2018; 14:e1800298. [PMID: 30457214 DOI: 10.1002/biot.201800298] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2018] [Revised: 10/24/2018] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Promoter is one of the key elements in regulating gene expression. Many natural or synthetic promoters have been modulated by their cis- or tans-regulatory elements to confer instant gene expression change in responding to designated stimuli. In addition, bacterial cells also engage different sigma factors to control the gene expression network at different growth phases or in response to the changing environment and external stresses. In this study, a set of promoters that assimilate the endogenous regulation of different sigma factors σ70 , σ38 , σ32 , and σ24 are synthesized. Promoters are designed to contain two or more kinds of interlocking sigma factor binding sites. The most competitive sigma factors will be automatically selected by the cell to take over the synthetic promoters during the cell growth course. Some of the synthetic promoters exhibit very strong strengths under different conditions, including stationary phase, low temperature, acidic pH, and high osmotic pressure. Comparing to the T7 promoter, synthetic promoter P21285 achieved higher yields of L-asparaginase and acid urease in Escherichia coli. The research not only expands the synthetic biology toolbox but also provide another strategy to design and construct synthetic promoters in prokaryotes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang Wang
- The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China.,The Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China
| | - Qingtao Liu
- The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China.,The Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China
| | - Huanjiao Weng
- The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China.,The Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China
| | - Yanan Shi
- The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China.,The Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China
| | - Jian Chen
- The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China.,The Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China
| | - Guocheng Du
- The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China.,The Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China
| | - Zhen Kang
- The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China.,The Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China
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39
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Fitz E, Wanka F, Seiboth B. The Promoter Toolbox for Recombinant Gene Expression in Trichoderma reesei. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2018; 6:135. [PMID: 30364340 PMCID: PMC6193071 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2018.00135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2018] [Accepted: 09/12/2018] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The ascomycete Trichoderma reesei is one of the main fungal producers of cellulases and xylanases based on its high production capacity. Its enzymes are applied in food, feed, and textile industry or in lignocellulose hydrolysis in biofuel and biorefinery industry. Over the last years, the demand to expand the molecular toolbox for T. reesei to facilitate genetic engineering and improve the production of heterologous proteins grew. An important instrument to modify the expression of key genes are promoters to initiate and control their transcription. To date, the most commonly used promoter for T. reesei is the strong inducible promoter of the main cellobiohydrolase cel7a. Beside this one, there is a number of alternative inducible promoters derived from other cellulase- and xylanase encoding genes and a few constitutive promoters. With the advances in genomics and transcriptomics the identification of new constitutive and tunable promoters with different expression strength was simplified. In this review, we will discuss new developments in the field of promoters and compare their advantages and disadvantages. Synthetic expression systems constitute a new option to control gene expression and build up complex gene circuits. Therefore, we will address common structural features of promoters and describe options for promoter engineering and synthetic design of promoters. The availability of well-characterized gene expression control tools is essential for the analysis of gene function, detection of bottlenecks in gene networks and yield increase for biotechnology applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisabeth Fitz
- Research Division Biochemical Technology, Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria.,Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (ACIB) GmbH, Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria
| | - Franziska Wanka
- Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (ACIB) GmbH, Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria
| | - Bernhard Seiboth
- Research Division Biochemical Technology, Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria.,Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (ACIB) GmbH, Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria
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40
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Abstract
Filamentous fungi are widely used for production of cellulase and other cellulolytic enzymes. Metabolic engineering of filamentous fungal strains has been applied to improve enzyme production, and rapid progress has been made in the recent years. In this chapter, genetic tools and methods to develop superior enzyme producers are summarized, which includes establishment of genetic modification systems, selection and redesign of promoters, and metabolic engineering using either native transcription factors or artificial ones. In addition, enhancement of cellulase production through morphology engineering was also discussed. Emerging tools including CRISPR-Cas9-based genome editing and synthetic biology are highlighted, which are speeding up mechanisms elucidation and strain development, and will further facilitate economic cellulolytic enzyme production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xu Fang
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong China
| | - Yinbo Qu
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong China
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41
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Ji CH, Kim JP, Kang HS. Library of Synthetic Streptomyces Regulatory Sequences for Use in Promoter Engineering of Natural Product Biosynthetic Gene Clusters. ACS Synth Biol 2018; 7:1946-1955. [PMID: 29966097 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.8b00175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Promoter engineering has emerged as a powerful tool to activate transcriptionally silent natural product biosynthetic gene clusters found in bacterial genomes. Since biosynthetic gene clusters are composed of multiple operons, their promoter engineering requires the use of a set of regulatory sequences with a similar level of activities. Although several successful examples of promoter engineering have been reported, its widespread use has been limited due to the lack of a library of regulatory sequences suitable for use in promoter engineering of large, multiple operon-containing biosynthetic gene clusters. Here, we present the construction of a library of constitutively active, synthetic Streptomyces regulatory sequences. The promoter assay system has been developed using a single-module nonribosomal peptide synthetase that produces the peptide blue pigment indigoidine, allowing for the rapid screening of a large pool of regulatory sequences. The highly randomized regulatory sequences in both promoter and ribosome binding site regions were screened for their ability to produce the blue pigment, and they are classified into the strong, medium, and weak regulatory sequences based on the strength of a blue color. We demonstrated the utility of our synthetic regulatory sequences for promoter engineering of natural product biosynthetic gene clusters using the actinorhodin gene cluster as a model cluster. We believe that the set of Streptomyces regulatory sequences we report here will facilitate the discovery of new natural products from silent, cryptic biosynthetic gene clusters found in sequenced Streptomyces genomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chang-Hun Ji
- Department of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Korea
| | - Jong-Pyung Kim
- Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Cheongju, Chungbuk 28116, Korea
| | - Hahk-Soo Kang
- Department of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Korea
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42
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Shen R, Yin J, Ye JW, Xiang RJ, Ning ZY, Huang WZ, Chen GQ. Promoter Engineering for Enhanced P(3HB- co-4HB) Production by Halomonas bluephagenesis. ACS Synth Biol 2018; 7:1897-1906. [PMID: 30024739 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.8b00102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Promoters for the expression of heterologous genes in Halomonas bluephagenesis are quite limited, and many heterologous promoters function abnormally in this strain. Pporin, a promoter of the strongest expressed protein porin in H. bluephagenesis, is one of the few promoters available for heterologous expression in H. bluephagenesis, yet it has a fixed transcriptional activity that cannot be tuned. A stable promoter library with a wide range of activities is urgently needed. This study reports an approach to construct a promoter library based on the Pporin core region, namely, from the -35 box to the transcription start site, a spacer and an insulator. Saturation mutagenesis was conducted inside the promoter core region to significantly increase the diversity within the promoter library. The promoter library worked in both E. coli and H. bluephagenesis, covering a wide range of relative transcriptional strengths from 40 to 140 000. The library is therefore suitable for the transcription of many different heterologous genes, serving as a platform for protein expression and fine-tuned metabolic engineering of H. bluephagenesis TD01 and its derivative strains. H. bluephagenesis strains harboring the orfZ gene encoding 4HB-CoA transferase driven by selected promoters from the library were constructed, the best one produced over 100 g/L cell dry weight containing 80% poly(3-hydroxybutyrate- co-11 mol % 4-hydroxybutyrate) with a productivity of 1.59 g/L/h after 50 h growth under nonsterile fed-batch conditions. This strain was found the best for P(3HB- co-4HB) production in the laboratory scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rui Shen
- MOE Key Lab of Bioinformatics, School of Life Science, Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Jin Yin
- MOE Key Lab of Bioinformatics, School of Life Science, Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Jian-Wen Ye
- MOE Key Lab of Bioinformatics, School of Life Science, Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | | | - Zhi-Yu Ning
- MOE Key Lab of Bioinformatics, School of Life Science, Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Wu-Zhe Huang
- MOE Key Lab of Bioinformatics, School of Life Science, Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Guo-Qiang Chen
- MOE Key Lab of Bioinformatics, School of Life Science, Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
- Center for Synthetic and Systems Biology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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43
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Prielhofer R, Reichinger M, Wagner N, Claes K, Kiziak C, Gasser B, Mattanovich D. Superior protein titers in half the fermentation time: Promoter and process engineering for the glucose-regulated GTH1 promoter of Pichia pastoris. Biotechnol Bioeng 2018; 115:2479-2488. [PMID: 30016537 PMCID: PMC6221138 DOI: 10.1002/bit.26800] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2018] [Revised: 06/01/2018] [Accepted: 07/02/2018] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Protein production in Pichia pastoris is often based on the methanol‐inducible P
AOX1 promoter which drives the expression of the target gene. The use of methanol has major drawbacks, so there is a demand for alternative promoters with good induction properties such as the glucose‐regulated P
GTH1 promoter which we reported recently. To further increase its potential, we investigated its regulation in more details by the screening of promoter variants harboring deletions and mutations. Thereby we could identify the main regulatory region and important putative transcription factor binding sites of P
GTH1. Concluding from that, yeast metabolic regulators, monomeric Gal4‐class motifs, carbon source‐responsive elements, and yeast GC‐box proteins likely contribute to the regulation of the promoter. We engineered a P
GTH1 variant with greatly enhanced induction properties compared with that of the wild‐type promoter. Based on that, a model‐based bioprocess design for high volumetric productivity in a limited time was developed for the P
GTH1 variant, to employ a glucose fed‐batch strategy that clearly outperformed a classical methanol fed‐batch of a P
AOX1 strain in terms of titer and process performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roland Prielhofer
- Department of Biotechnology, BOKU-University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Muthgasse, Austria
| | | | | | | | | | - Brigitte Gasser
- Department of Biotechnology, BOKU-University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Muthgasse, Austria.,Christian Doppler-Laboratory for Growth-decoupled Protein Production in Yeast, BOKU-University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Muthgasse, Austria
| | - Diethard Mattanovich
- Department of Biotechnology, BOKU-University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Muthgasse, Austria
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44
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Rohlhill J, Sandoval NR, Papoutsakis ET. Sort-Seq Approach to Engineering a Formaldehyde-Inducible Promoter for Dynamically Regulated Escherichia coli Growth on Methanol. ACS Synth Biol 2017; 6:1584-1595. [PMID: 28463494 PMCID: PMC5569641 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.7b00114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
![]()
Tight and tunable control of gene
expression is a highly desirable
goal in synthetic biology for constructing predictable gene circuits
and achieving preferred phenotypes. Elucidating the sequence–function
relationship of promoters is crucial for manipulating gene expression
at the transcriptional level, particularly for inducible systems dependent
on transcriptional regulators. Sort-seq methods employing fluorescence-activated
cell sorting (FACS) and high-throughput sequencing allow for the quantitative
analysis of sequence–function relationships in a robust and
rapid way. Here we utilized a massively parallel sort-seq approach
to analyze the formaldehyde-inducible Escherichia coli promoter (Pfrm) with single-nucleotide
resolution. A library of mutated formaldehyde-inducible promoters
was cloned upstream of gfp on a plasmid. The library
was partitioned into bins via FACS on the basis of green fluorescent
protein (GFP) expression level, and mutated promoters falling into
each expression bin were identified with high-throughput sequencing.
The resulting analysis identified two 19 base pair repressor binding
sites, one upstream of the −35 RNA polymerase (RNAP) binding
site and one overlapping with the −10 site, and assessed the
relative importance of each position and base therein. Key mutations
were identified for tuning expression levels and were used to engineer
formaldehyde-inducible promoters with predictable activities. Engineered
variants demonstrated up to 14-fold lower basal expression, 13-fold
higher induced expression, and a 3.6-fold stronger response as indicated
by relative dynamic range. Finally, an engineered formaldehyde-inducible
promoter was employed to drive the expression of heterologous methanol
assimilation genes and achieved increased biomass levels on methanol,
a non-native substrate of E. coli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Rohlhill
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and the Delaware Biotechnology Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19711, United States
| | - Nicholas R. Sandoval
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118, United States
| | - Eleftherios T. Papoutsakis
- Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and the Delaware Biotechnology Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19711, United States
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45
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Moses T, Mehrshahi P, Smith AG, Goossens A. Synthetic biology approaches for the production of plant metabolites in unicellular organisms. J Exp Bot 2017; 68:4057-4074. [PMID: 28449101 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erx119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Synthetic biology is the repurposing of biological systems for novel objectives and applications. Through the co-ordinated and balanced expression of genes, both native and those introduced from other organisms, resources within an industrial chassis can be siphoned for the commercial production of high-value commodities. This developing interdisciplinary field has the potential to revolutionize natural product discovery from higher plants, by providing a diverse array of tools, technologies, and strategies for exploring the large chemically complex space of plant natural products using unicellular organisms. In this review, we emphasize the key features that influence the generation of biorefineries and highlight technologies and strategic solutions that can be used to overcome engineering pitfalls with rational design. Also presented is a succinct guide to assist the selection of unicellular chassis most suited for the engineering and subsequent production of the desired natural product, in order to meet the global demand for plant natural products in a safe and sustainable manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tessa Moses
- Ghent University, Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Payam Mehrshahi
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK
| | - Alison G Smith
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK
| | - Alain Goossens
- Ghent University, Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
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Abstract
A promoter is one of the most important and basic tools used to achieve diverse synthetic biology goals. Escherichia coli is one of the most commonly used model organisms in synthetic biology to produce useful target products and establish complicated regulation networks. During the fine-tuning of metabolic or regulation networks, the limited number of well-characterized inducible promoters has made implementing complicated strategies difficult. In this study, 104 native promoter-5'-UTR complexes (PUTR) from E. coli were screened and characterized based on a series of RNA-seq data. The strength of the 104 PUTRs varied from 0.007% to 4630% of that of the PBAD promoter in the transcriptional level and from 0.1% to 137% in the translational level. To further upregulate gene expression, a series of combinatorial PUTRs and cascade PUTRs were constructed by integrating strong transcriptional promoters with strong translational 5'-UTRs. Finally, two combinatorial PUTRs (PssrA-UTRrpsT and PdnaKJ-UTRrpsT) and two cascade PUTRs (PUTRssrA-PUTRinfC-rplT and PUTRalsRBACE-PUTRinfC-rplT) were identified as having the highest activity, with expression outputs of 170%, 137%, 409%, and 203% of that of the PBAD promoter, respectively. These engineered PUTRs are stable for the expression of different genes, such as the red fluorescence protein gene and the β-galactosidase gene. These results show that the PUTRs characterized and constructed in this study may be useful as a plug-and-play synthetic biology toolbox to achieve complicated metabolic engineering goals in fine-tuning metabolic networks to produce target products.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shenghu Zhou
- Key Laboratory
of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education,
School of Biotechnology, and ‡National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation
Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
| | - Renpeng Ding
- Key Laboratory
of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education,
School of Biotechnology, and ‡National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation
Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
| | - Jian Chen
- Key Laboratory
of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education,
School of Biotechnology, and ‡National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation
Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
| | - Guocheng Du
- Key Laboratory
of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education,
School of Biotechnology, and ‡National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation
Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
| | - Huazhong Li
- Key Laboratory
of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education,
School of Biotechnology, and ‡National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation
Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
| | - Jingwen Zhou
- Key Laboratory
of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education,
School of Biotechnology, and ‡National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation
Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, China
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47
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Yi JS, Kim MW, Kim M, Jeong Y, Kim EJ, Cho BK, Kim BG. A Novel Approach for Gene Expression Optimization through Native Promoter and 5' UTR Combinations Based on RNA-seq, Ribo-seq, and TSS-seq of Streptomyces coelicolor. ACS Synth Biol 2017; 6:555-565. [PMID: 27966890 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6b00263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Streptomycetes are Gram-positive mycelial bacteria, which synthesize a wide range of natural products including over two-thirds of the currently available antibiotics. However, metabolic engineering in Streptomyces species to overproduce a vast of natural products are hampered by a limited number of genetic tools. Here, two promoters and four 5' UTR sequences showing constant strengths were selected based upon multiomics data sets from Streptomyces coelicolor M145, including RNA-seq, Ribo-seq, and TSS-seq, for controllable transcription and translation. A total eight sets of promoter/5' UTR combinations, with minimal interferences of promoters on translation, were constructed using the transcription start site information, and evaluated with the GusA system. Expression of GusA could be controlled to various strengths in three different media, in a range of 0.03- to 2.4-fold, compared to that of the control, ermE*P/Shine-Dalgarno sequence. This method was applied to engineer three previously reported promoters to enhance gene expressions. The expressions of ActII-ORF4 and MetK were also tuned for actinorhodin overproductions in S. coelicolor as examples. In summary, we provide a novel approach and tool for optimizations of gene expressions in Streptomyces coelicolor.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Yujin Jeong
- Department
of Biological Sciences and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
| | | | - Byung-Kwan Cho
- Department
of Biological Sciences and KI for the BioCentury, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
- Intelligent Synthetic
Biology Center, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
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48
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Piva LC, Bentacur MO, Reis VCB, De Marco JL, Moraes LMPD, Torres FAG. Molecular strategies to increase the levels of heterologous transcripts in Komagataella phaffii for protein production. Bioengineered 2017; 8:441-445. [PMID: 28399696 DOI: 10.1080/21655979.2017.1296613] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Komagataella phaffii (formerly Pichia pastoris) is a well-known fungal system for heterologous protein production in the context of modern biotechnology. To obtain higher protein titers in this system many researchers have sought to optimize gene expression by increasing the levels of transcription of the heterologous gene. This has been typically achieved by manipulating promoter sequences or by generating clones bearing multiple copies of the desired gene. The aim of this work is to describe how these different molecular strategies have been applied in K. phaffii presenting their advantages and drawbacks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luiza Cesca Piva
- a Laboratório de Biologia Molecular, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas , Universidade de Brasília , Brasília , DF , Brazil
| | - Maritza Ocampo Bentacur
- a Laboratório de Biologia Molecular, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas , Universidade de Brasília , Brasília , DF , Brazil
| | - Viviane Castelo Branco Reis
- a Laboratório de Biologia Molecular, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas , Universidade de Brasília , Brasília , DF , Brazil
| | - Janice Lisboa De Marco
- a Laboratório de Biologia Molecular, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas , Universidade de Brasília , Brasília , DF , Brazil
| | - Lidia Maria Pepe de Moraes
- a Laboratório de Biologia Molecular, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas , Universidade de Brasília , Brasília , DF , Brazil
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Younger AKD, Dalvie NC, Rottinghaus AG, Leonard JN. Engineering Modular Biosensors to Confer Metabolite-Responsive Regulation of Transcription. ACS Synth Biol 2017; 6:311-325. [PMID: 27744683 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6b00184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Efforts to engineer microbial factories have benefitted from mining biological diversity and high throughput synthesis of novel enzymatic pathways, yet screening and optimizing metabolic pathways remain rate-limiting steps. Metabolite-responsive biosensors may help to address these persistent challenges by enabling the monitoring of metabolite levels in individual cells and metabolite-responsive feedback control. We are currently limited to naturally evolved biosensors, which are insufficient for monitoring many metabolites of interest. Thus, a method for engineering novel biosensors would be powerful, yet we lack a generalizable approach that enables the construction of a wide range of biosensors. As a step toward this goal, we here explore several strategies for converting a metabolite-binding protein into a metabolite-responsive transcriptional regulator. By pairing a modular protein design approach with a library of synthetic promoters and applying robust statistical analyses, we identified strategies for engineering biosensor-regulated bacterial promoters and for achieving design-driven improvements of biosensor performance. We demonstrated the feasibility of this strategy by fusing a programmable DNA binding motif (zinc finger module) with a model ligand binding protein (maltose binding protein), to generate a novel biosensor conferring maltose-regulated gene expression. This systematic investigation provides insights that may guide the development of additional novel biosensors for diverse synthetic biology applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew K. D. Younger
- Interdisciplinary
Biological Sciences Graduate Program, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
| | - Neil C. Dalvie
- Department
of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
| | - Austin G. Rottinghaus
- Department
of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin−Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, United States
| | - Joshua N. Leonard
- Department
of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
- Center
for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
- Chemistry
of Life Processes Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
- Member, Robert
H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
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50
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Kang HS, Charlop-Powers Z, Brady SF. Multiplexed CRISPR/Cas9- and TAR-Mediated Promoter Engineering of Natural Product Biosynthetic Gene Clusters in Yeast. ACS Synth Biol 2016; 5:1002-10. [PMID: 27197732 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.6b00080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
The use of DNA sequencing to guide the discovery of natural products has emerged as a new paradigm for revealing chemistries encoded in bacterial genomes. A major obstacle to implementing this approach to natural product discovery is the transcriptional silence of biosynthetic gene clusters under laboratory growth conditions. Here we describe an improved yeast-based promoter engineering platform (mCRISTAR) that combines CRISPR/Cas9 and TAR to enable single-marker multiplexed promoter engineering of large gene clusters. mCRISTAR highlights the first application of the CRISPR/Cas9 system to multiplexed promoter engineering of natural product biosynthetic gene clusters. In this method, CRISPR/Cas9 is used to induce DNA double-strand breaks in promoter regions of biosynthetic gene clusters, and the resulting operon fragments are reassembled by TAR using synthetic gene-cluster-specific promoter cassettes. mCRISTAR uses a CRISPR array to simplify the construction of a CRISPR plasmid for multiplex CRISPR and a single auxotrophic selection to improve the inefficiency of using a CRISPR array for multiplex gene cluster refactoring. mCRISTAR is a simple and generic method for multiplexed replacement of promoters in biosynthetic gene clusters that will facilitate the discovery of natural products from the rapidly growing collection of gene clusters found in microbial genome and metagenome sequencing projects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hahk-Soo Kang
- Laboratory of Genetically
Encoded Small Molecules, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York
Avenue, New York, New York 10065, United States
| | - Zachary Charlop-Powers
- Laboratory of Genetically
Encoded Small Molecules, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York
Avenue, New York, New York 10065, United States
| | - Sean F. Brady
- Laboratory of Genetically
Encoded Small Molecules, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York
Avenue, New York, New York 10065, United States
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