Combined biosynthetic pathway for de novo production of UDP-galactose: catalysis with multiple enzymes immobilized on agarose beads

Regeneration of sugar nucleotides is a critical step in the biosynthetic pathway for the formation of oligosaccharides. To alleviate the difficulties in the production of sugar nucleotides, we have developed a method to produce uridine diphosphate galactose (UDP-galactose). The combined biosynthetic pathway, which involves seven enzymes, is composed of three parts: i) the main pathway to form UDP-galactose from galactose, with the enzymes galactokinase, galactose-1-phosphate uridyltransferase, UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase, and inorganic pyrophosphatase, ii) the uridine triphosphate supply pathway catalyzed by uridine monophosphate (UMP) kinase and nucleotide diphosphate kinase, and iii) the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) regeneration pathway catalyzed by polyphosphate kinase with polyphosphate added as an energy resource. All of the enzymes were expressed individually and immobilized through their hexahistidine tags onto nickel agarose beads ("super beads"). The reaction requires a stoichiometric amount of UMP and galactose, and catalytic amounts of ATP and glucose 1-phosphate, all inexpensive starting materials. After continuous circulation of the reaction mixture through the super-bead column for 48 h, 50 % of the UMP was converted into UDP-galactose. The results show that de novo production of UDP-galactose on the super-bead column is more efficient than in solution because of the stability of the immobilized enzymes.     

Direct Cloning, Genetic Engineering, and Heterologous Expression of the Syringolin Biosynthetic Gene Cluster in E. coli through Red/ET Recombineering

The reconstruction of a natural product biosynthetic pathway from bacteria in a vector and subsequent heterologous expression in a technically amenable microbial system represents an efficient alternative to empirical traditional methods for functional discovery, yield improvement, and genetic engineering to produce "unnatural" derivatives. However, the traditional cloning procedure based on genomic library construction and screening are complicated due to the large size (>10 kb) of most biosynthetic pathways. Here, we describe the direct cloning of a partial syringolin biosynthetic gene cluster (sylCDE, 19 kb) from a digested genomic DNA mixture of Pseudomonas syringae into a plasmid in which sylCDE is under the control of an inducible promoter by one step linear-plus-linear homologous recombination (LLHR) in Escherichia coli. After expression in E. coli GB05-MtaA, two new syringolin derivatives were discovered. The complete syringolin gene cluster was assembled by addition of sylAB and exchange of a synthetic bidirectional promoter against the native promoter to drive sylB and sylC expression by using Red/ET recombineering. The varying production distribution of syringolin derivatives showed the different efficiencies of native and synthetic promoters in E. coli. The successful reconstitution and expression of the syringolin biosynthetic pathway shows that Red/ET recombineering is an efficient tool to clone and engineer secondary metabolite biosynthetic pathways.     

Chromosomal Engineering of Escherichia coli for Efficient Production of Coenzyme Q10

The plasmid-expression system is routinely plagued by potential plasmid instability. Chromosomal in-tegration is one powerful approach to overcome the problem. Herein we report a plasmid-free hyper-producer E. coli strain for coenzyme Q10 production. A series of integration expression vectors, pxKC3T5b and pxKT5b, were constructed for chemically inducible chromosomal evolution （multiple copy integration） and replicon-free and markerless chromosomal integration （single copy integration）, respectively. A coenzyme Q10 hyper-producer Es-cherichia coli TBW20134 was constructed by applying chemically inducible chromosomal evolution, replicon-free and markerless chromosomal integration as well as deletion of menaquinone biosynthetic pathway. The engineered E. coli TBW20134 produced 10.7 mg per gram of dry cell mass （DCM） of coenzyme Q10 when supplemented with 0.075 g·L^-1 of 4-hydroxy benzoic acid;this yield is unprecedented in E. coli and close to that of the commercial producer Agrobacterium tumefaciens. With this strain, the coenzyme Q10 production capacity was very stable after 30 sequential transfers and no antibiotics were required during the fermentation process. The strategy presented may be useful as a general approach for construction of stable production strains synthesizing natural products where various copy numbers for different genes are concerned.     

基因工程菌株BLG8900的遗传稳定性

目的研究基因工程菌株BLG8900的遗传稳定性。方法在有选择压力(加氨苄西林)的条件下,测定pYC2质粒在大肠杆菌BLG8900株[含有质粒pYC2的BL21(DE3)]中的遗传稳定性。结果工程菌连续传10、25、50和100代后质粒具有良好的稳定性,而且经BamHⅠ/EcoRⅠ双酶切,酶切图谱相同。第100代菌株重组质粒的GnRH/TRS序列与原代菌株相同。原代与第10、25、50和100代菌株经IPTG诱导表达,GST-GnRH/TRS融合蛋白表达水平、菌体蛋白的SDS-PAGE图谱鉴定无明显差异。Western blot表明各代菌株表达产物均具有GnRH抗原特异性。结论质粒pYC2在大肠杆菌BL21(DE3)宿主菌中有较好的遗传稳定性。     

氨基酰化酶固定化细胞光学拆分DL-丙氨酸

用具有氨基酰化酶基因的大肠杆菌工程菌构建固定化细胞,并对DL-丙氨酸进行酶拆分进行了实验研究。考察了温度、pH、底物浓度、金属离子和时间对酶促反应的影响。确定了氨基酰化酶固定化细胞光学拆分DL-丙氨酸中酶促反应的最佳工艺条件:pH=7.5,温度50℃,反应时间6h,Co2+离子浓度5×10-4mol/L,在该条件下,D-丙氨酸产率为87.2%,光学纯度为98.0%。     

组成型天冬氨酸转氨酶基因工程菌的构建与高效表达

天冬氨酸转氨酶AspAT是苯丙酮酸转氨制备L-苯丙氨酸的关键酶. 本研究将大肠杆菌中天冬氨酸转氨酶基因aspC克隆到3种不同质粒中，构建组成型表达质粒pUC/P-aspC, pSE/P-aspC, pET/P-aspC，并分别转化至6种常用的大肠杆菌宿主中. 通过对18种重组子的生长及产酶情况的分析，比较了各种重组子生长压力、质粒稳定性与表达酶活的关系，并经SDS-PAGE电泳分析AspAT的表达量，筛选出高产AspAT的重组子BL21(pET/P-aspC)，以该工程菌发酵液直接作为酶液，以天冬氨酸和苯丙酮酸(20 g/L)为底物，发酵液与底物以1:3的体积比转化生成L-苯丙氨酸16.2 g/L，转化率高达80.1%. 该体系表达无需诱导，转化无需添加辅酶PLP，展现了良好的产业化前景.     

Large-scale in vivo synthesis of the carbohydrate moieties of gangliosides GM1 and GM2 by metabolically engineered Escherichia coli

Two metabolically engineered Escherichia coli strains have been constructed to produce the carbohydrate moieties of gangliosides GM2 (GalNAcbeta-4(NeuAcalpha-3)Galbeta-4Glc; Gal = galactose, Glc = glucose, Ac = acetyl) and GM1 (Galbeta-3GalNAcbeta-4(NeuAcalpha-3)Galbeta-4Glc. The GM2 oligosaccharide-producing strain TA02 was devoid of both beta-galactosidase and sialic acid aldolase activities and overexpressed the genes for CMP-NeuAc synthase (CMP = cytidine monophosphate), alpha-2,3-sialyltransferase, UDP-GlcNAc (UDP = uridine diphosphate) C4 epimerase, and beta-1,4-GalNAc transferase. When this strain was cultivated on glycerol, exogenously added lactose and sialic acid were shown to be actively internalized into the cytoplasm and converted into GM2 oligosaccharide. The in vivo synthesis of GM1 oligosaccharide was achieved by taking a similar approach but using strain TA05, which additionally overexpressed the gene for beta-1,3-galactosyltransferase. In high-cell-density cultures, the production yields for the GM2 and GM1 oligosaccharides were 1.25 g L(-1) and 0.89 g L(-1), respectively.     

A strategy for high-level expression of soluble and functional human interferon alpha as a GST-fusion protein in E. coli

Escherichia coli is the most extensively used host for the production of recombinant proteins. However, most of the eukaryotic proteins are typically obtained as insoluble, misfolded inclusion bodies that need solubilization and refolding. To achieve high-level expression of soluble recombinant human interferon alpha (rhIFNalpha) in E. coli, we have first constructed a recombinant expression plasmid (pGEX-hIFNalpha2b), in which we merged the hIFNalpha2b cDNA with the glutathione S-transferase (GST) coding sequence downstream of the tac-inducible promoter. Using this plasmid, we have achieved 70% expression of soluble rhIFNalpha2b as a GST fusion protein using E. coli BL21 strain, under optimized environmental factors such as culture growth temperature and inducer (IPTG) concentration. However, release of the IFN moiety from the fusion protein by thrombin digestion was not optimal. Therefore, we have engineered the expression cassette to optimize the amino acid sequence at the GST-IFN junction and to introduce E. coli preferred codon within the thrombin cleavage site. We have used the engineered plasmid (pGEX-Delta-hIFNalpha2b) and the modified E. coli trxB(-)/gor(-) (Origami) strain to overcome the problem of removing the GST moiety while expressing soluble rhIFNalpha2b. Our results show the production of soluble and functional rhIFNalpha2b at a yield of 100 mg/l, without optimization of any step of the process. The specific biological activity of the purified soluble rhIFNalpha2b was equal to 2.0 x 10(8) IU/mg when compared with the WHO IFNalpha standard. Our data are the first to show that high yield production of soluble and functional rhIFNalpha2b tagged with GST can be achieved in E. coli.     

Biosynthetic Pathways of Dimeric Natural Products Containing Bisanthraquinone and Related Xanthones

Many dimeric natural products containing bisanthraquinone and related xanthones with diverse structures and versatile bioactivities have been isolated over the years. However, the complicated biosynthetic pathways of such natural products, which have remained elusive until recently, negatively impact their mass bioproduction and biosynthetic structural modification for drug discovery. In this concept, we summarize the recent progress in gene cluster mining and biosynthetic pathway elucidation of natural products containing bisanthraquinone and related xanthones. These pioneering works may pave the way for further biosynthetic pathway elucidation and structure modification of dimeric natural products through gene and protein engineering.     

Reassembly of anthramycin biosynthetic gene cluster by using recombinogenic cassettes

The reassembly and heterologous expression of complete gene clusters in shuttle vectors has enabled investigations of several large biosynthetic pathways in recent years. With a gene cluster in a mobile construct, the interrogation of gene functions from both culturable and nonculturable organisms is greatly accelerated and large pathway engineering efforts can be executed to produce "new" natural products. However, the genetic manipulation of complete natural product biosynthetic gene clusters is often complicated by their sheer size (10-200 kbp), which makes standard restriction/ligation-based methods impracticable. To circumvent these problems, alternative recombinogenic methods, which depend on engineered homology-based recombination have recently arisen as a powerful alternative. Here, we describe a new general technique that can be used to reconstruct large biosynthetic pathways from overlapping cosmids by retrofitting each cosmid with a "recombinogenic cassette" that contains a shared homologous element and orthogonal antibiotic markers. We employed this technique to reconstruct the anthramycin biosynthetic gene cluster of the thermotolerant actinomycete Streptomyces refuineus, from two >30 kbp cosmids into a single cosmid and integrate it into the genome of Streptomyces lividans. Anthramycin production in the heterologous Streptomyces host confirmed the integrity of the reconstructed pathway and validated the proposed boundaries of the gene cluster. Notably, anthramycin production by recombinant S. lividans was seen only during growth at high temperature--a property also shown by the natural host. This work provides tools to engineer the anthramycin biosynthetic pathway and to explore the connection between anthramycin production and growth at elevated temperatures.     

产气荚膜梭菌β_2-β_1融合基因的构建及初步表达

目的构建产气荚膜梭菌β2-β1毒素融合基因并在重组大肠杆菌中表达。方法采用PCR方法,从含β2毒素基因质粒CPB2-9中扩增出β2毒素基因,经NcoⅠ和BamHⅠ双酶切后,回收0.73kb片段,再将含β1毒素基因质粒pXETB1经同样双酶切回收,与β2片段连接,转化BL21(DE3)中,进行诱导表达。结果经SDS-PAGE和Westernblot分析表明,重组菌株BL21(DE3)可表达β2-β1融合蛋白,且该蛋白可以被相应的抗体所识别。结论已成功构建了β2-β1融合基因,并在重组大肠杆菌中表达。     

林可霉素生物合成基因簇中调控基因lmbU的功能研究

研究了林可霉素生物合成基因簇中调控基因lmbU的功能.通过构建重组质粒pLIN-DU和pLIN-U分别对林可霉素工业生产菌株Streptomyces lincolnensis的lmbU基因进行同框敲除和基因倍增,获得相应突变菌LIN-DU和LIN-U后,对突变菌发酵液进行生物效价测定和LC-MS分析,探讨lmbU基因对...     

奶牛乳房炎致病大肠埃希菌的分型及外膜蛋白酶OmpT的抗原性验证

目的对奶牛乳房炎致病大肠埃希菌(E.coli)进行分型及外膜蛋白酶T(outer membrane protease,OmpT)的抗原性验证。方法采用凝集试验测定黑龙江省分离的84株致病E.coli的O血清型,PCR扩增种系分类群标记基因法对84株E.coli进行分型;经BLAST比对筛选ompT基因后,PCR验证ompT基因的普遍性;克隆A、B1、D群代表株ompT基因,测序后进行同源性比对;构建B1群E.coli 2002-1株ompT基因重组表达质粒pET-32a-ompT,转化E.coliRosetta,IPTG诱导表达;表达的重组蛋白经亲和层析纯化后,Western blot法鉴定重组蛋白的抗原性。结果 84株奶牛乳房炎致病E.coli中共鉴定出血清型51株,覆盖42个O血清型,归属A种系进化群10株,占11.90%;B1种系进化群74株,占88.10%;无肠外强致病的B2和D群。各型E.coli均可扩增出ompT基因。4亚群代表株ompT基因具有高度保守性,同源性达97%以上。重组表达质粒pET-32a-ompT经PCR及双酶切鉴定,证明构建正确。表达的重组蛋白相对分子质量约55 000,诱导4 h,目的蛋白的表达量最高,约占菌体总蛋白的29.8%。纯化的重组OmpT蛋白纯度为87.6%,与4亚群E.coli免疫血清均可发生特异性反应。结论种系进化是对奶牛乳房炎致病E.coli分型的理想方法,外膜蛋白酶OmpT在E.coli各种系进化群中抗原性良好,可作为研制E.coli蛋白亚单位疫苗的候选抗原。     

黄色短杆菌ilvN基因定点突变和ilvBN、ilvC串联表达对L-缬氨酸产量的影响

由ilvBN、ilvC基因编码的乙酰羟酸合成酶（AHAS）和乙酰羟酸异构还原酶（AHAIR）是L-缬氨酸合成途径的两个关键酶。本实验以黄色短杆菌Brevibacterium flavum MD515为出发菌株,通过PCR技术扩增其ilvBN和ilvC基因,对调节亚基ilvN进行定点突变,获得抗反馈抑制突变型编码基因ilvBN^rC;然后将其插入穿梭表达载体pZ8-1中,构建串联表达质粒pZ8-1-ilvBN^rC并转化出发菌株,筛选获得工程菌株B.flavum MD515/pZ8-1-ilvBN^rC。摇瓶发酵该工程菌株L-缬氨酸产量达29.5 g·L^-1,较出发菌株提高27.7%,同时生长速度和生物量也比出发菌株有所提高,丙氨酸含量降低,L-亮氨酸及L-异亮氨酸含量提高。在30 L发酵罐连续补料发酵60 h后L-缬氨酸产量达61.7 g·L^-1,糖酸转化率为39.2%。菌株MD515/pZ8-1-ilvBN^rC发酵液透光率较出发菌株高且蛋白含量低,这些特性有利于发酵液后期的分离提取。     

Improvement of the riboflavin production by engineering the precursor biosynthesis pathways in Escherichia coli

3,4-Dihydroxy-2-butanone 4-phosphate (DHBP) and GTP are the precursors for riboflavin biosynthesis. In this research, improving the precursor supply for riboflavin production was attempted by overexpressing ribB and engineering purine pathway in a riboflavin-producing Escherichia coli strain. Initially, ribB gene was overexpressed to increase the flux from ribulose 5-phosphate (Ru-5-P) to DHBP. Then ndk and gmk genes were overexpressed to enhance GTP supply. Subsequently, a R419L mutation was introduced into purA to reduce the flux from IMP to AMP. Finally, co-overexpression of mutant purF and prs genes further increased riboflavin production. The final strain RF18S produced 387.6 mg riboflavin · L?1 with a yield of 44.8 mg riboflavin per gram glucose in shake-flask fermentations. The final titer and yield were 72.2%and 55.6%higher than those of RF01S, respectively. It was concluded that simultaneously engineering the DHBP synthase and GTP biosynthetic pathway by rational metabolic engineering can efficiently boost riboflavin production in E. coli.     

Reevaluation of the violacein biosynthetic pathway and its relationship to indolocarbazole biosynthesis

The biosynthetic pathways for violacein and for indolocarbazoles (rebeccamycin, staurosporine) include a decarboxylative fusion of two tryptophan units. However, in the case of violacein, one of the tryptophans experiences an unusual 1-->2 shift of the indole ring. The violacein biosynthetic gene cluster was previously reported to consist of four genes, vioABCD. Here we studied the violacein pathway through expression of vio genes in Escherichia coli and Streptomyces albus. A pair of genes (vioAB), responsible for the earliest steps in violacein biosynthesis, was functionally equivalent to the homologous pair in the indolocarbazole pathway (rebOD), directing the formation of chromopyrrolic acid. However, chromopyrrolic acid appeared to be a shunt product, not a violacein intermediate. In addition to vioABCD, a fifth gene (vioE) was essential for violacein biosynthesis, specifically for production of the characteristic 1-->2 shift of the indole ring. We also report new findings on the roles played by the VioC and VioD oxygenases, and on the origin of violacein derivatives of the chromoviridans type.     

甲型流感病毒HA基因核酸疫苗表达载体的构建及表达

目的构建含有甲型流感病毒HA基因的核酸疫苗表达载体,转染COS-7细胞,并检测目的蛋白的表达。方法将甲型流感病毒New Caledonia/20/99(H1N1)接种鸡胚后,收获尿囊液,提取流感病毒总RNA,RT-PCR法扩增HA基因。经亚克隆后获得质粒pMD-T/HA,酶切鉴定后测序,将其与质粒pVAX1分别双酶切后连接,构建甲型流感病毒表达载体pVAHA。脂质体法转染COS-7细胞,并检测目的蛋白的表达。结果扩增出1700 bp片段,与预期的HA基因大小相符,测序结果与GenBank报道一致,酶切鉴定表明甲型流感病毒表达载体pVAHA构建正确,Western blot检测证明了流感病毒HA蛋白的表达。结论已成功构建了甲型流感病毒HA基因核酸疫苗表达载体pVAHA。     

重组Echistatin融合基因工程菌高密度发酵工艺优化

目的优化大肠杆菌表达重组蛇毒锯鳞蝰素(Echistatin,Ecs)融合基因工程菌的发酵工艺。方法在15L发酵罐内,研究培养基、培养条件和诱导时间对工程菌生长和目的蛋白表达的影响,并考察工程菌中重组质粒的遗传稳定性。结果工程菌在pH7·4的2×YT培养基中诱导4h,菌体湿重可达75g/L,目的蛋白表达量约占总蛋白的35%,所构建的重组质粒在BL21宿主菌中传代稳定。结论优化了Ecs融合基因工程菌的发酵和表达条件,为规模化生产奠定了基础。     

戊型肝炎病毒ORF2蛋白与新型融合标签Halo Tag的融合表达

目的在大肠杆菌KRX中表达戊型肝炎病毒(Hepatitis E virus,HEV)ORF2与新型融合标签Halo Tag融合蛋白。方法采用RT-PCR法从4型HEV毒株中扩增ORF2基因部分片段(aa 382~620),插入含新型融合标签Halo Tag的原核表达载体pFN18the中,构建重组表达质粒pFN18the-ORF2,转化大肠杆菌KRX,鼠李糖诱导表达Halo-ORF2融合蛋白,纯化后Western blot分析融合蛋白的反应原性。结果经RT-PCR扩增出717 bp的目的基因片段;重组表达质粒pFN18the-ORF2经双酶切和测序鉴定构建正确;表达的融合蛋白Halo-ORF2相对分子质量为57 900,表达量约占菌体总蛋白的15%,以包涵体形式表达,纯化后纯度达90%以上,可与HEV IgG阳性血清特异性结合。结论在大肠杆菌KRX中表达了Halo-ORF2融合蛋白,为HEV结构蛋白抗原表位的筛选及戊肝血清学诊断的研究奠定了基础。