State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China.
Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China.
Nat Commun. 2021 Nov 25;12(1):6886. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-27226-3.
Microbial populations are a promising model for achieving microbial cooperation to produce valuable chemicals. However, regulating the phenotypic structure of microbial populations remains challenging. In this study, a programmed lysis system (PLS) is developed to reprogram microbial cooperation to enhance chemical production. First, a colicin M -based lysis unit is constructed to lyse Escherichia coli. Then, a programmed switch, based on proteases, is designed to regulate the effective lysis unit time. Next, a PLS is constructed for chemical production by combining the lysis unit with a programmed switch. As a result, poly (lactate-co-3-hydroxybutyrate) production is switched from PLH synthesis to PLH release, and the content of free PLH is increased by 283%. Furthermore, butyrate production with E. coli consortia is switched from E. coli BUT003 to E. coli BUT004, thereby increasing butyrate production to 41.61 g/L. These results indicate the applicability of engineered microbial populations for improving the metabolic division of labor to increase the efficiency of microbial cell factories.
微生物种群是实现微生物合作生产有价值化学品的有前途的模型。然而，调节微生物种群的表型结构仍然具有挑战性。在这项研究中，开发了一种程控裂解系统 (PLS) 来重新编程微生物合作以提高化学物质的产量。首先，构建了基于大肠杆菌素 M 的裂解单元来裂解大肠杆菌。然后，设计了基于蛋白酶的程控开关来调节有效的裂解单元时间。接下来，通过将裂解单元与程控开关结合，构建了用于化学物质生产的 PLS。结果，聚（乳酸-co-3-羟基丁酸酯）的生产从 PLH 合成切换到 PLH 释放，游离 PLH 的含量增加了 283%。此外，通过大肠杆菌群落将丁酸的生产从 E. coli BUT003 切换到 E. coli BUT004，从而将丁酸的产量提高到 41.61 g/L。这些结果表明，工程化的微生物种群可用于提高代谢分工效率，以提高微生物细胞工厂的效率。
