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Schulz-Mirbach H, Dronsella B, He H, Erb TJ. Creating new-to-nature carbon fixation: A guide. Metab Eng 2024; 82:12-28. [PMID: 38160747 DOI: 10.1016/j.ymben.2023.12.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2023] [Revised: 12/23/2023] [Accepted: 12/27/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024]
Abstract
Synthetic biology aims at designing new biological functions from first principles. These new designs allow to expand the natural solution space and overcome the limitations of naturally evolved systems. One example is synthetic CO2-fixation pathways that promise to provide more efficient ways for the capture and conversion of CO2 than natural pathways, such as the Calvin Benson Bassham (CBB) cycle of photosynthesis. In this review, we provide a practical guideline for the design and realization of such new-to-nature CO2-fixation pathways. We introduce the concept of "synthetic CO2-fixation", and give a general overview over the enzymology and topology of synthetic pathways, before we derive general principles for their design from their eight naturally evolved analogs. We provide a comprehensive summary of synthetic carbon-assimilation pathways and derive a step-by-step, practical guide from the theoretical design to their practical implementation, before ending with an outlook on new developments in the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helena Schulz-Mirbach
- Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Karl-von-Frisch-Str. 10, 35043, Marburg, Germany
| | - Beau Dronsella
- Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Karl-von-Frisch-Str. 10, 35043, Marburg, Germany; Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Hai He
- Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Karl-von-Frisch-Str. 10, 35043, Marburg, Germany
| | - Tobias J Erb
- Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Karl-von-Frisch-Str. 10, 35043, Marburg, Germany; Center for Synthetic Microbiology (SYNMIKRO), Karl-von-Frisch-Str. 16, D-35043, Marburg, Germany.
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Iacometti C, Marx K, Hönick M, Biletskaia V, Schulz-Mirbach H, Dronsella B, Satanowski A, Delmas VA, Berger A, Dubois I, Bouzon M, Döring V, Noor E, Bar-Even A, Lindner SN. Activating Silent Glycolysis Bypasses in Escherichia coli. Biodes Res 2022; 2022:9859643. [PMID: 37850128 PMCID: PMC10521649 DOI: 10.34133/2022/9859643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2021] [Accepted: 04/08/2022] [Indexed: 10/19/2023] Open
Abstract
All living organisms share similar reactions within their central metabolism to provide precursors for all essential building blocks and reducing power. To identify whether alternative metabolic routes of glycolysis can operate in E. coli, we complementarily employed in silico design, rational engineering, and adaptive laboratory evolution. First, we used a genome-scale model and identified two potential pathways within the metabolic network of this organism replacing canonical Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas (EMP) glycolysis to convert phosphosugars into organic acids. One of these glycolytic routes proceeds via methylglyoxal and the other via serine biosynthesis and degradation. Then, we implemented both pathways in E. coli strains harboring defective EMP glycolysis. Surprisingly, the pathway via methylglyoxal seemed to immediately operate in a triosephosphate isomerase deletion strain cultivated on glycerol. By contrast, in a phosphoglycerate kinase deletion strain, the overexpression of methylglyoxal synthase was necessary to restore growth of the strain. Furthermore, we engineered the "serine shunt" which converts 3-phosphoglycerate via serine biosynthesis and degradation to pyruvate, bypassing an enolase deletion. Finally, to explore which of these alternatives would emerge by natural selection, we performed an adaptive laboratory evolution study using an enolase deletion strain. Our experiments suggest that the evolved mutants use the serine shunt. Our study reveals the flexible repurposing of metabolic pathways to create new metabolite links and rewire central metabolism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camillo Iacometti
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Katharina Marx
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Maria Hönick
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Viktoria Biletskaia
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Helena Schulz-Mirbach
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Beau Dronsella
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Ari Satanowski
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Valérie A. Delmas
- Génomique Métabolique, Genoscope, Institut François Jacob, CEA, CNRS, Univ Evry, Université Paris-Saclay, 91057 Evry-Courcouronne, France
| | - Anne Berger
- Génomique Métabolique, Genoscope, Institut François Jacob, CEA, CNRS, Univ Evry, Université Paris-Saclay, 91057 Evry-Courcouronne, France
| | - Ivan Dubois
- Génomique Métabolique, Genoscope, Institut François Jacob, CEA, CNRS, Univ Evry, Université Paris-Saclay, 91057 Evry-Courcouronne, France
| | - Madeleine Bouzon
- Génomique Métabolique, Genoscope, Institut François Jacob, CEA, CNRS, Univ Evry, Université Paris-Saclay, 91057 Evry-Courcouronne, France
| | - Volker Döring
- Génomique Métabolique, Genoscope, Institut François Jacob, CEA, CNRS, Univ Evry, Université Paris-Saclay, 91057 Evry-Courcouronne, France
| | - Elad Noor
- Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zürich, Otto-Stern-Weg 3, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Arren Bar-Even
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Steffen N. Lindner
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
- Department of Biochemistry, Charité Universitätsmedizin, Virchowweg 6, 10117 Berlin, Germany
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Satanowski A, Dronsella B, Noor E, Vögeli B, He H, Wichmann P, Erb TJ, Lindner SN, Bar-Even A. Awakening a latent carbon fixation cycle in Escherichia coli. Nat Commun 2020; 11:5812. [PMID: 33199707 PMCID: PMC7669889 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19564-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2019] [Accepted: 10/15/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Carbon fixation is one of the most important biochemical processes. Most natural carbon fixation pathways are thought to have emerged from enzymes that originally performed other metabolic tasks. Can we recreate the emergence of a carbon fixation pathway in a heterotrophic host by recruiting only endogenous enzymes? In this study, we address this question by systematically analyzing possible carbon fixation pathways composed only of Escherichia coli native enzymes. We identify the GED (Gnd-Entner-Doudoroff) cycle as the simplest pathway that can operate with high thermodynamic driving force. This autocatalytic route is based on reductive carboxylation of ribulose 5-phosphate (Ru5P) by 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (Gnd), followed by reactions of the Entner-Doudoroff pathway, gluconeogenesis, and the pentose phosphate pathway. We demonstrate the in vivo feasibility of this new-to-nature pathway by constructing E. coli gene deletion strains whose growth on pentose sugars depends on the GED shunt, a linear variant of the GED cycle which does not require the regeneration of Ru5P. Several metabolic adaptations, most importantly the increased production of NADPH, assist in establishing sufficiently high flux to sustain this growth. Our study exemplifies a trajectory for the emergence of carbon fixation in a heterotrophic organism and demonstrates a synthetic pathway of biotechnological interest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ari Satanowski
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Beau Dronsella
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Elad Noor
- Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zürich, Otto-Stern-Weg 3, 8093, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Bastian Vögeli
- Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Karl-von-Frisch-Straße 10, 35043, Marburg, Germany
| | - Hai He
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Philipp Wichmann
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Tobias J Erb
- Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Karl-von-Frisch-Straße 10, 35043, Marburg, Germany.,Center for Synthetic Microbiology (SYNMIKRO), 35043, Marburg, Germany
| | - Steffen N Lindner
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476, Potsdam, Germany.
| | - Arren Bar-Even
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476, Potsdam, Germany
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Cotton CAR, Bernhardsgrütter I, He H, Burgener S, Schulz L, Paczia N, Dronsella B, Erban A, Toman S, Dempfle M, De Maria A, Kopka J, Lindner SN, Erb TJ, Bar-Even A. Underground isoleucine biosynthesis pathways in E. coli. eLife 2020; 9:e54207. [PMID: 32831171 PMCID: PMC7476758 DOI: 10.7554/elife.54207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2019] [Accepted: 08/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
The promiscuous activities of enzymes provide fertile ground for the evolution of new metabolic pathways. Here, we systematically explore the ability of E. coli to harness underground metabolism to compensate for the deletion of an essential biosynthetic pathway. By deleting all threonine deaminases, we generated a strain in which isoleucine biosynthesis was interrupted at the level of 2-ketobutyrate. Incubation of this strain under aerobic conditions resulted in the emergence of a novel 2-ketobutyrate biosynthesis pathway based upon the promiscuous cleavage of O-succinyl-L-homoserine by cystathionine γ-synthase (MetB). Under anaerobic conditions, pyruvate formate-lyase enabled 2-ketobutyrate biosynthesis from propionyl-CoA and formate. Surprisingly, we found this anaerobic route to provide a substantial fraction of isoleucine in a wild-type strain when propionate is available in the medium. This study demonstrates the selective advantage underground metabolism offers, providing metabolic redundancy and flexibility which allow for the best use of environmental carbon sources.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Hai He
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant PhysiologyPotsdamGermany
| | - Simon Burgener
- Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial MicrobiologyMarburgGermany
| | - Luca Schulz
- Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial MicrobiologyMarburgGermany
| | - Nicole Paczia
- Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial MicrobiologyMarburgGermany
| | - Beau Dronsella
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant PhysiologyPotsdamGermany
| | - Alexander Erban
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant PhysiologyPotsdamGermany
| | - Stepan Toman
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant PhysiologyPotsdamGermany
| | - Marian Dempfle
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant PhysiologyPotsdamGermany
| | - Alberto De Maria
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant PhysiologyPotsdamGermany
| | - Joachim Kopka
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant PhysiologyPotsdamGermany
| | | | - Tobias J Erb
- Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial MicrobiologyMarburgGermany
- LOEWE Research Center for Synthetic Microbiology (SYNMIKRO)MarburgGermany
| | - Arren Bar-Even
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant PhysiologyPotsdamGermany
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