Open AccessToward a glycyl radical enzyme containing synthetic bacterial microcompartment to produce pyruvate from formate and acetate
Author(s) -
Henning Kirst,
Bryan Ferlez,
Steffen N. Lindner,
Charles A. R. Cotton,
Arren BarEven
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2116871119
Subject(s) - synthetic biology , metabolic engineering , protein engineering , formate , biochemistry , formate dehydrogenase , metabolic pathway , enzyme , compartmentalization (fire protection) , modular design , glyoxylate cycle , chemistry , biology , computational biology , cofactor , computer science , catalysis , operating system
Significance The enormous complexity of metabolic pathways, in both their regulation and propensity for metabolite cross-talk, represents a major obstacle for metabolic engineering. Self-assembling, catalytically programmable and genetically transferable bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) offer solutions to decrease this complexity through compartmentalization of enzymes within a selectively permeable protein shell. Synthetic BMCs can operate as autonomous metabolic modules decoupled from the cell’s regulatory network, only interfacing with the cell’s metabolism via the highly engineerable proteinaceous shell. Here, we build a synthetic, modular, multienzyme BMC. It functions not only as a proof-of-concept for next-generation metabolic engineering, but also provides the foundation for subsequent tuning, with the goal to create a microanaerobic environment protecting an oxygen-sensitive reaction in aerobic growth conditions that could be deployed.