RESUMO
The living world is largely divided into autotrophs that convert CO2 into biomass and heterotrophs that consume organic compounds. In spite of widespread interest in renewable energy storage and more sustainable food production, the engineering of industrially relevant heterotrophic model organisms to use CO2 as their sole carbon source has so far remained an outstanding challenge. Here, we report the achievement of this transformation on laboratory timescales. We constructed and evolved Escherichia coli to produce all its biomass carbon from CO2. Reducing power and energy, but not carbon, are supplied via the one-carbon molecule formate, which can be produced electrochemically. Rubisco and phosphoribulokinase were co-expressed with formate dehydrogenase to enable CO2 fixation and reduction via the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle. Autotrophic growth was achieved following several months of continuous laboratory evolution in a chemostat under intensifying organic carbon limitation and confirmed via isotopic labeling.
Assuntos
Biomassa , Dióxido de Carbono/metabolismo , Carbono/metabolismo , Escherichia coli/metabolismo , Adaptação Fisiológica/genética , Aminoácidos/metabolismo , Processos Autotróficos/fisiologia , Isótopos de Carbono , Evolução Molecular Direcionada , Escherichia coli/genética , Marcação por Isótopo , Engenharia Metabólica , Análise do Fluxo Metabólico , Mutação/genéticaRESUMO
Can a heterotrophic organism be evolved to synthesize biomass from CO2 directly? So far, non-native carbon fixation in which biomass precursors are synthesized solely from CO2 has remained an elusive grand challenge. Here, we demonstrate how a combination of rational metabolic rewiring, recombinant expression, and laboratory evolution has led to the biosynthesis of sugars and other major biomass constituents by a fully functional Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle in E. coli. In the evolved bacteria, carbon fixation is performed via a non-native CBB cycle, while reducing power and energy are obtained by oxidizing a supplied organic compound (e.g., pyruvate). Genome sequencing reveals that mutations in flux branchpoints, connecting the non-native CBB cycle to biosynthetic pathways, are essential for this phenotype. The successful evolution of a non-native carbon fixation pathway, though not yet resulting in net carbon gain, strikingly demonstrates the capacity for rapid trophic-mode evolution of metabolism applicable to biotechnology. PAPERCLIP.
Assuntos
Dióxido de Carbono/metabolismo , Evolução Molecular Direcionada , Escherichia coli/genética , Escherichia coli/metabolismo , Gluconeogênese , Redes e Vias Metabólicas , Processos Autotróficos , Carboidratos/biossíntese , Escherichia coli/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Espectrometria de MassasRESUMO
Quantitatively describing the time course of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection within an infected individual is important for understanding the current global pandemic and possible ways to combat it. Here we integrate the best current knowledge about the typical viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in bodily fluids and host tissues to estimate the total number and mass of SARS-CoV-2 virions in an infected person. We estimate that each infected person carries 109 to 1011 virions during peak infection, with a total mass in the range of 1 µg to 100 µg, which curiously implies that all SARS-CoV-2 virions currently circulating within human hosts have a collective mass of only 0.1 kg to 10 kg. We combine our estimates with the available literature on host immune response and viral mutation rates to demonstrate how antibodies markedly outnumber the spike proteins, and the genetic diversity of virions in an infected host covers all possible single nucleotide substitutions.
Assuntos
COVID-19/virologia , SARS-CoV-2/fisiologia , Carga Viral , Vírion/fisiologia , Humanos , Testes SorológicosRESUMO
Identifying the molecular mechanisms that give rise to genetic variation is essential for the understanding of evolutionary processes. Previously, we have used adaptive laboratory evolution to enable biomass synthesis from CO2 in Escherichia coli. Genetic analysis of adapted clones from two independently evolving populations revealed distinct enrichment for insertion and deletion mutational events. Here, we follow these observations to show that mutations in the gene encoding for DNA topoisomerase I (topA) give rise to mutator phenotypes with characteristic mutational spectra. Using genetic assays and mutation accumulation lines, we find that point mutations in topA increase the rate of sequence deletion and duplication events. Interestingly, we observe that a single residue substitution (R168C) results in a high rate of head-to-tail (tandem) short sequence duplications, which are independent of existing sequence repeats. Finally, we show that the unique mutation spectrum of topA mutants enhances the emergence of antibiotic resistance in comparison to mismatch-repair (mutS) mutators, and leads to new resistance genotypes. Our findings highlight a potential link between the catalytic activity of topoisomerases and the fundamental question regarding the emergence of de novo tandem repeats, which are known modulators of bacterial evolution.
Assuntos
Dióxido de Carbono/metabolismo , DNA Topoisomerases Tipo I/genética , Proteínas de Escherichia coli/genética , Escherichia coli/genética , Proteína MutS de Ligação de DNA com Erro de Pareamento/genética , Biomassa , Dióxido de Carbono/química , DNA Topoisomerases Tipo I/química , Farmacorresistência Bacteriana/genética , Escherichia coli/metabolismo , Proteínas de Escherichia coli/química , Evolução Molecular , Duplicação Gênica/genética , Genótipo , Proteína MutS de Ligação de DNA com Erro de Pareamento/química , Mutação , Mutação Puntual/genéticaRESUMO
Pyruvate formate-lyase (PFL) is a ubiquitous enzyme that supports increased ATP yield during sugar fermentation. While the PFL reaction is known to be reversible in vitro, the ability of PFL to support microbial growth by condensing acetyl-CoA and formate in vivo has never been directly tested. Here, we employ Escherichia coli mutant strains that cannot assimilate acetate via the glyoxylate shunt and use carbon labeling experiments to unequivocally demonstrate PFL-dependent co-assimilation of acetate and formate. Moreover, PFL-dependent growth is faster than growth on acetate using the glyoxylate shunt. Hence, growth via the reverse activity of PFL could have substantial ecological and biotechnological significance.
Assuntos
Acetatos/metabolismo , Acetilcoenzima A/metabolismo , Acetiltransferases/metabolismo , Proteínas de Escherichia coli/metabolismo , Escherichia coli/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Formiatos/metabolismo , Acetiltransferases/genética , Anaerobiose , Escherichia coli/enzimologia , Escherichia coli/genética , Proteínas de Escherichia coli/genéticaRESUMO
Synthetic autotrophy is a promising avenue to sustainable bioproduction from CO2. Here, we use iterative laboratory evolution to generate several distinct autotrophic strains. Utilising this genetic diversity, we identify that just three mutations are sufficient for Escherichia coli to grow autotrophically, when introduced alongside non-native energy (formate dehydrogenase) and carbon-fixing (RuBisCO, phosphoribulokinase, carbonic anhydrase) modules. The mutated genes are involved in glycolysis (pgi), central-carbon regulation (crp), and RNA transcription (rpoB). The pgi mutation reduces the enzyme's activity, thereby stabilising the carbon-fixing cycle by capping a major branching flux. For the other two mutations, we observe down-regulation of several metabolic pathways and increased expression of native genes associated with the carbon-fixing module (rpiB) and the energy module (fdoGH), as well as an increased ratio of NADH/NAD+ - the cycle's electron-donor. This study demonstrates the malleability of metabolism and its capacity to switch trophic modes using only a small number of genetic changes and could facilitate transforming other heterotrophic organisms into autotrophs.
Assuntos
Escherichia coli , Pesquisa , Escherichia coli/genética , Processos Autotróficos , Carbono , Ciclo do Carbono/genéticaRESUMO
Quantitatively describing the time course of the SARS-CoV-2 infection within an infected individual is important for understanding the current global pandemic and possible ways to combat it. Here we integrate the best current knowledge about the typical viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in bodily fluids and host tissues to estimate the total number and mass of SARS-CoV-2 virions in an infected person. We estimate that each infected person carries 109-1011 virions during peak infection, with a total mass in the range of 1-100 µg, which curiously implies that all SARS-CoV-2 virions currently circulating within human hosts have a collective mass of only 0.1-10 kg. We combine our estimates with the available literature on host immune response and viral mutation rates to demonstrate how antibodies markedly outnumber the spike proteins and the genetic diversity of virions in an infected host covers all possible single nucleotide substitutions.
RESUMO
Many photosynthetic organisms employ a CO2 concentrating mechanism (CCM) to increase the rate of CO2 fixation via the Calvin cycle. CCMs catalyze ≈50% of global photosynthesis, yet it remains unclear which genes and proteins are required to produce this complex adaptation. We describe the construction of a functional CCM in a non-native host, achieved by expressing genes from an autotrophic bacterium in an Escherichia coli strain engineered to depend on rubisco carboxylation for growth. Expression of 20 CCM genes enabled E. coli to grow by fixing CO2 from ambient air into biomass, with growth in ambient air depending on the components of the CCM. Bacterial CCMs are therefore genetically compact and readily transplanted, rationalizing their presence in diverse bacteria. Reconstitution enabled genetic experiments refining our understanding of the CCM, thereby laying the groundwork for deeper study and engineering of the cell biology supporting CO2 assimilation in diverse organisms.
Assuntos
Dióxido de Carbono/metabolismo , Escherichia coli/metabolismo , Regulação Bacteriana da Expressão Gênica/fisiologia , Proteínas de Bactérias/genética , Proteínas de Bactérias/metabolismo , Genoma Bacteriano , Genômica , Halothiobacillus/genética , Mutação , Fosfotransferases (Aceptor do Grupo Álcool)/genética , Fosfotransferases (Aceptor do Grupo Álcool)/metabolismo , Ribulose-Bifosfato Carboxilase/genética , Ribulose-Bifosfato Carboxilase/metabolismoRESUMO
Carbon fixation is the gateway of inorganic carbon into the biosphere. Our ability to engineer carbon fixation pathways in living organisms is expected to play a crucial role in the quest towards agricultural and energetic sustainability. Recent successes to introduce non-native carbon fixation pathways into heterotrophic hosts offer novel platforms for manipulating these pathways in genetically malleable organisms. Here, we focus on past efforts and future directions for engineering the dominant carbon fixation pathway in the biosphere, the Calvin-Benson cycle, into the well-known model organism Escherichia coli. We describe how central carbon metabolism of this heterotrophic bacterium can be manipulated to allow directed evolution of carbon fixing enzymes. Finally, we highlight future directions towards synthetic autotrophy.
Assuntos
Ciclo do Carbono , Escherichia coli/metabolismo , Fotossíntese , Ribulose-Bifosfato Carboxilase/metabolismo , Evolução Molecular Direcionada , Engenharia GenéticaRESUMO
Understanding the evolution of a new metabolic capability in full mechanistic detail is challenging, as causative mutations may be masked by non-essential "hitchhiking" mutations accumulated during the evolutionary trajectory. We have previously used adaptive laboratory evolution of a rationally engineered ancestor to generate an Escherichia coli strain able to utilize CO2 fixation for sugar synthesis. Here, we reveal the genetic basis underlying this metabolic transition. Five mutations are sufficient to enable robust growth when a non-native Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle provides all the sugar-derived metabolic building blocks. These mutations are found either in enzymes that affect the efflux of intermediates from the autocatalytic CO2 fixation cycle toward biomass (prs, serA, and pgi), or in key regulators of carbon metabolism (crp and ppsR). Using suppressor analysis, we show that a decrease in catalytic capacity is a common feature of all mutations found in enzymes. These findings highlight the enzymatic constraints that are essential to the metabolic stability of autocatalytic cycles and are relevant to future efforts in constructing non-native carbon fixation pathways.