Paper

Bioremediation of Industrial Pollutants by Insects Expressing a Fungal Laccase

The results in the experimentation demonstrate that transgenic animals may be used to bioremediate environmental contaminants in vivo and serve as novel production platforms for industrial enzymes.

EntoZyme

Rapid generation and screening of transgenic black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens)

The methods presented in the paper expedite the screening process for Black Soldier Flies (BSF) transgenesis and further expand the toolkit for BSF synthetic biology.

EntoZyme

Diverting organic waste from landfills via insect biomanufacturing using engineered black soldier flies (Hermetia illucens)

Using synthetic biology, Black Soldier Flies could be developed into a novel sustainable biomanufacturing platform to valorise a broader variety of organic waste feedstocks into enhanced animal feeds, a large variety of high-value biomolecules including industrial enzymes and lipids, and improved fertiliser.

EntoZyme

High production of genistein diglucoside derivative using cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase from Paenibacillus macerans

Genistein has been regarded as one important soy isoflavone with multiple health benefits, whereas its applications are limited by the low hydrophilicity. To improve the water solubility, codon optimized cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase from Paenibacillus macerans was employed for genistein transglycosylation in this study. At least four transglycosylation products were produced and identified by HPLC and LC–MS: genistein monoglucoside, diglucoside, triglucoside, and tetraglucoside derivatives. Obviously, the yields of genistein monoglucoside and genistein diglucoside exhibited great superiority compared with other two products. To maximize the yield of genistein diglucoside, various reaction conditions such as genistein dissolvents, glycosyl donors, substrates concentrations and ratios, enzyme concentrations, reaction pH, temperature, and time were optimized. Finally, the yield of genistein diglucoside was enhanced by 1.5-fold under the optimum reaction system. Our study demonstrates that the production of genistein diglucoside could be specifically enhanced, which is one important genistein derivative with better water solubility and stability.

Jiangnan University

Engineering rTCA pathway and C4-dicarboxylate transporter for L-malic acid production.

L-Malic acid is an important component of a vast array of food additives, antioxidants, disincrustants, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. Here, we presented a pathway optimization strategy and a transporter modification approach to reconstruct the L-malic acid biosynthesis pathway and transport system, respectively. First, pyruvate carboxylase (pyc) and malate dehydrogenase (mdh) from Aspergillus flavus and Rhizopus oryzae were combinatorially overexpressed to construct the reductive tricarboxylic acid (rTCA) pathway for L-malic acid biosynthesis. Second, the L-malic acid transporter (Spmae) from Schizosaccharomyces pombe was engineered by removing the ubiquitination motification to enhance the L-malic acid efflux system. Finally, the L-malic acid pathway was optimized by controlling gene expression levels, and the final L-malic acid concentration, yield, and productivity were up to 30.25 g L(-1), 0.30 g g(-1), and 0.32 g L(-1) h(-1) in the resulting strain W4209 with CaCO3 as a neutralizing agent, respectively. In addition, these corresponding parameters of pyruvic acid remained at 30.75 g L(-1), 0.31 g g(-1), and 0.32 g L(-1) h(-1), respectively. The metabolic engineering strategy used here will be useful for efficient production of L-malic acid and other chemicals.

Jiangnan University

Versatile strategies for bioproduction of hyaluronic acid driven by synthetic biology

Owing to its outstanding water-retention ability, viscoelasticity, biocompatibility and non-immunogenicity, Hyaluronic acid (HA), a natural linear polymer alternating linked by D-glucuronic acid and N-acetylglucosamine, has been widely employed in cosmetic, medical and clinical applications. With the development of synthetic biology and bioprocessing optimization, HA production via microbial fermentation is an economical and sustainable alternative over traditional animal extraction methods. Indeed, recently Streptococci and other recombinant systems for HA synthesis has received increasing interests due to its technical advantages. This review summarizes the production of HA by microorganisms and demonstrates its synthesis mechanism, focusing on the current status in various production systems, as well as common synthetic biology strategies include driving more carbon flux into HA biosynthesis and regulating the molecular weight (MW), and finally discusses the major challenges and prospects.

Jiangnan University

Development of an eco?friendly pink cotton germplasm by engineering betalain biosynthesis pathway

The vast majority of the world's cotton varieties produce white fibre, which is then coloured with synthetic dyes during textile processing to fulfil the diverse needs of consumers. This results in potential environmental pollution and is detrimental to human and animal health. Although there exists naturally coloured cottons, mostly in brown and green, their poor agronomic performance and suboptimal fibre quality have severely hampered their widespread applications in cotton breeding program. Therefore, there is an impetus to create multicoloured fibre through synthetic biology biotechnology by leveraging the biochemical processes of colour formation and associated regulatory genes in cotton.

Zhengzhou University

One-Pot Synthesis of Adipic Acid from Guaiacol in Escherichia coli

Adipic acid is one of the most important small molecules in the modern chemical industry. However, the damaging environmental impact of the current industrial synthesis of adipic acid has necessitated the development of greener, biobased approaches to its manufacture. Herein we report the first one-pot synthesis of adipic acid from guaiacol, a lignin-derived feedstock, using genetically engineered whole-cells of Escherichia coli. The reaction is mild, efficient, requires no additional additives or reagents, and produces no byproducts. This study demonstrates how modern synthetic biology can be used to valorize abundant feedstocks into industrially relevant small molecules in living cells.

The University of Edinburgh