Open AccessEngineering microbes to sense and eradicate Pseudomonas aeruginosa , a human pathogen
Author(s) -
Saeidi Nazanin,
Wong Choon Kit,
Lo TatMing,
Nguyen Hung Xuan,
Ling Hua,
Leong Susanna Su Jan,
Poh Chueh Loo,
Chang Matthew Wook
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
molecular systems biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 8.523
H-Index - 148
ISSN - 1744-4292
DOI - 10.1038/msb.2011.55
Subject(s) - pseudomonas aeruginosa , quorum sensing , synthetic biology , biology , biofilm , escherichia coli , microbiology and biotechnology , human pathogen , antimicrobial , systems biology , computational biology , pathogen , bacteria , genetics , gene
Synthetic biology aims to systematically design and construct novel biological systems that address energy, environment, and health issues. Herein, we describe the development of a synthetic genetic system, which comprises quorum sensing, killing, and lysing devices, that enables Escherichia coli to sense and kill a pathogenic Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain through the production and release of pyocin. The sensing, killing, and lysing devices were characterized to elucidate their detection, antimicrobial and pyocin release functionalities, which subsequently aided in the construction of the final system and the verification of its designed behavior. We demonstrated that our engineered E. coli sensed and killed planktonic P. aeruginosa , evidenced by 99% reduction in the viable cells. Moreover, we showed that our engineered E. coli inhibited the formation of P. aeruginosa biofilm by close to 90%, leading to much sparser and thinner biofilm matrices. These results suggest that E. coli carrying our synthetic genetic system may provide a novel synthetic biology‐driven antimicrobial strategy that could potentially be applied to fighting P. aeruginosa and other infectious pathogens.