Premium
Photocaged Arabinose: A Novel Optogenetic Switch for Rapid and Gradual Control of Microbial Gene Expression
Author(s) -
Binder Dennis,
Bier Claus,
Grünberger Alexander,
Drobietz Dagmar,
HageHülsmann Jennifer,
Wandrey Georg,
Büchs Jochen,
Kohlheyer Dietrich,
Loeschcke Anita,
Wiechert Wolfgang,
Jaeger KarlErich,
Pietruszka Jörg,
Drepper Thomas
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
chembiochem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.05
H-Index - 126
eISSN - 1439-7633
pISSN - 1439-4227
DOI - 10.1002/cbic.201500609
Subject(s) - optogenetics , arabinose , gene expression , synthetic biology , chemistry , context (archaeology) , microbiology and biotechnology , regulation of gene expression , gene , biology , computational biology , biochemistry , paleontology , xylose , neuroscience , fermentation
Controlling cellular functions by light allows simple triggering of biological processes in a non‐invasive fashion with high spatiotemporal resolution. In this context, light‐regulated gene expression has enormous potential for achieving optogenetic control over almost any cellular process. Here, we report on two novel one‐step cleavable photocaged arabinose compounds, which were applied as light‐sensitive inducers of transcription in bacteria. Exposure of caged arabinose to UV‐A light resulted in rapid activation of protein production, as demonstrated for GFP and the complete violacein biosynthetic pathway. Moreover, single‐cell analysis revealed that intrinsic heterogeneity of arabinose‐mediated induction of gene expression was overcome when using photocaged arabinose. We have thus established a novel phototrigger for synthetic bio(techno)logy applications that enables precise and homogeneous control of bacterial target gene expression.