Biomacromolecules Research Team, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan.
Department of Material Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto-Daigaku-Katsura, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto, 615-8510, Japan.
Commun Biol. 2020 Jul 8;3(1):357. doi: 10.1038/s42003-020-1099-6.
Photosynthetic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria, purple bacteria and microalgae have attracted great interest as promising platforms for economical and sustainable production of bioenergy, biochemicals, and biopolymers. Here, we demonstrate heterotrophic production of spider dragline silk proteins, major ampullate spidroins (MaSp), in a marine photosynthetic purple bacterium, Rhodovulum sulfidophilum, under both photoheterotrophic and photoautotrophic growth conditions. Spider silk is a biodegradable and biocompatible material with remarkable mechanical properties. R. sulfidophilum grow by utilizing abundant and renewable nonfood bioresources such as seawater, sunlight, and gaseous CO and N, thus making this photosynthetic microbial cell factory a promising green and sustainable production platform for proteins and biopolymers, including spider silks.
光合微生物，如蓝细菌、紫色细菌和微藻，作为经济且可持续生产生物能源、生物化学物质和生物聚合物的有前途的平台，引起了极大的兴趣。在这里，我们展示了在海洋光合紫色细菌 Rhodovulum sulfidophilum 中，通过异养方式生产蜘蛛拖丝蛋白、主要膨体蛛丝蛋白（MaSp），在光异养和光自养生长条件下均可进行。蜘蛛丝是一种可生物降解和生物相容的材料，具有显著的机械性能。R. sulfidophilum 通过利用丰富且可再生的非食用生物资源，如海水、阳光、气态 CO 和 N 进行生长，因此，这种光合微生物细胞工厂是一种有前途的绿色可持续的蛋白质和生物聚合物生产平台，包括蜘蛛丝。
