Center for Bits and Atoms, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA.
J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
Cell. 2021 Apr 29;184(9):2430-2440.e16. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.03.008. Epub 2021 Mar 29.
Genomically minimal cells, such as JCVI-syn3.0, offer a platform to clarify genes underlying core physiological processes. Although this minimal cell includes genes essential for population growth, the physiology of its single cells remained uncharacterized. To investigate striking morphological variation in JCVI-syn3.0 cells, we present an approach to characterize cell propagation and determine genes affecting cell morphology. Microfluidic chemostats allowed observation of intrinsic cell dynamics that result in irregular morphologies. A genome with 19 genes not retained in JCVI-syn3.0 generated JCVI-syn3A, which presents morphology similar to that of JCVI-syn1.0. We further identified seven of these 19 genes, including two known cell division genes, ftsZ and sepF, a hydrolase of unknown substrate, and four genes that encode membrane-associated proteins of unknown function, which are required together to restore a phenotype similar to that of JCVI-syn1.0. This result emphasizes the polygenic nature of cell division and morphology in a genomically minimal cell.
基因组最小的细胞，如 JCVI-syn3.0，为澄清核心生理过程的基因提供了一个平台。尽管这个最小的细胞包括了对种群生长至关重要的基因，但它的单细胞生理学仍未被描述。为了研究 JCVI-syn3.0 细胞中惊人的形态变化，我们提出了一种方法来描述细胞增殖并确定影响细胞形态的基因。微流控恒化器允许观察导致不规则形态的内在细胞动力学。一个含有 19 个在 JCVI-syn3.0 中未保留的基因的基因组产生了 JCVI-syn3A，其形态与 JCVI-syn1.0 相似。我们进一步鉴定了这 19 个基因中的 7 个，包括两个已知的细胞分裂基因 ftsZ 和 sepF、一个未知底物的水解酶，以及四个编码未知功能的膜相关蛋白的基因，它们一起被需要来恢复类似于 JCVI-syn1.0 的表型。这一结果强调了基因组最小细胞中细胞分裂和形态的多基因性质。
