Metabolomics methods for the synthetic biology of secondary metabolism

Many microbial secondary metabolites are of high biotechnological value for medicine, agriculture, and the food industry. Bacterial genome mining has revealed numerous novel secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters, which encode the potential to synthesize a large diversity of compounds that have never been observed before. The stimulation or “awakening” of this cryptic microbial secondary metabolism has naturally attracted the attention of synthetic microbiologists, who exploit recent advances in DNA sequencing and synthesis to achieve unprecedented control over metabolic pathways. One of the indispensable tools in the synthetic biology toolbox is metabolomics, the global quantification of small biomolecules. This review illustrates the pivotal role of metabolomics for the synthetic microbiology of secondary metabolism, including its crucial role in novel compound discovery in microbes, the examination of side products of engineered metabolic pathways, as well as the identification of major bottlenecks for the overproduction of compounds of interest, especially in combination with metabolic modeling. We conclude by highlighting remaining challenges and recent technological advances that will drive metabolomics towards fulfilling its potential as a cornerstone technology of synthetic microbiology

Overexpression of flv3 improves photosynthesis in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 by enhancement of alternative electron flow

markdownabstract__Abstract__ _Book summary_: Experts are increasingly relied on in decision-making processes at international and European levels. Their involvement in those processes, however, is contested. This timely book on the role of 'experts' provides a broad-gauged analysis of the issues raised by their involvement in decision-making processes. The chapters explore three main recurring themes: the rationales for involving experts and ensuing legitimacy problems; the individual and collective dimensions of expert involvement in decision making; and experts and politics and the politics of expertise. With contributions from leading scholars and practitioners, they theorize the experts' involvement in general and address their role in the policy areas of environment, trade, human rights, migration, financial regulation, and agencification in the European Union

Metabolic engineering of astaxanthin biosynthesis in maize endosperm and characterization of a prototype high oil hybrid

Maize was genetically engineered for the biosynthesis of the high value carotenoid astaxanthin in the kernel endosperm. Introduction of a β-carotene hydroxylase and a β-carotene ketolase into a white maize genetic background extended the carotenoid pathway to astaxanthin. Simultaneously, phytoene synthase, the controlling enzyme of carotenogenesis, was over-expressed for enhanced carotenoid production and lycopene ε-cyclase was knocked-down to direct more precursors into the β-branch of the extended ketocarotenoid pathway which ends with astaxanthin. This astaxanthin-accumulating transgenic line was crossed into a high oil- maize genotype in order to increase the storage capacity for lipophilic astaxanthin. The high oil astaxanthin hybrid was compared to its astaxanthin producing parent. We report an in depth metabolomic and proteomic analysis which revealed major up- or down- regulation of genes involved in primary metabolism. Specifically, amino acid biosynthesis and the citric acid cycle which compete with the synthesis or utilization of pyruvate and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate, the precursors for carotenogenesis, were down-regulated. Nevertheless, principal component analysis demonstrated that this compositional change is within the range of the two wild type parents used to generate the high oil producing astaxanthin hybrid

Rewiring carotenoid biosynthesis in plants using a viral vector

[EN] Plants can be engineered to sustainably produce compounds of nutritional, industrial or pharmaceutical relevance. This is, however, a challenging task as extensive regulation of biosynthetic pathways often hampers major metabolic changes. Here we describe the use of a viral vector derived from Tobacco etch virus to express a whole heterologous metabolic pathway that produces the health-promoting carotenoid lycopene in tobacco tissues. The pathway consisted in three enzymes from the soil bacteria Pantoea ananatis. Lycopene is present at undetectable levels in chloroplasts of non-infected leaves. In tissues infected with the viral vector, however, lycopene comprised approximately 10% of the total carotenoid content. Our research further showed that plant viruses that express P. ananatis phytoene synthase (crtB), one of the three enzymes of the heterologous pathway, trigger an accumulation of endogenous carotenoids, which together with a reduction in chlorophylls eventually result in a bright yellow pigmentation of infected tissues in various host-virus combinations. So, besides illustrating the potential of viral vectors for engineering complex metabolic pathways, we also show a yellow carotenoid-based reporter that can be used to visually track infection dynamics of plant viruses either alone or in combination with other visual markers.We thank Veronica Aragones and M. Rosa Rodriguez-Goberna for excellent technical assistance. This research was supported by Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) grants BIO2014-54269-R to J.-A.D., and BIO2014-59092-P and BIO2015-71703-REDT to M. R.-C. Financial support from the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEOII/2014/021), the Programa Iberoamericano de Ciencia y Tecnologia para el Desarrollo (Ibercarot 112RT0445), and the Generalitat de Catalunya (2014SGR-1434) is also acknowledged. E.M. is the recipient of a pre-doctoral fellowship (AP2012-3751) from the Spanish Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte. B.L. is supported by a postdoctoral fellowship (FPDI-2013-018882) from MINECO.Majer, E.; Llorente, B.; Rodríguez-Concepción, M.; Daros Arnau, JA. (2017). Rewiring carotenoid biosynthesis in plants using a viral vector. Scientific Reports. 7. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep41645S7O’Connor, S. E. Engineering of secondary metabolism. Annu. Rev. Genet. 49, 71–94 (2015).Sainsbury, F. & Lomonossoff, G. P. Transient expressions of synthetic biology in plants. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 19, 1–7 (2014).Gleba, Y. Y., Tusé, D. & Giritch, A. Plant viral vectors for delivery by Agrobacterium. Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immunol. 375, 155–192 (2014).Chen, Q., He, J., Phoolcharoen, W. & Mason, H. S. Geminiviral vectors based on bean yellow dwarf virus for production of vaccine antigens and monoclonal antibodies in plants. Hum. Vaccin. 7, 331–338 (2011).Pogue, G. P., Lindbo, J. A., Garger, S. J. & Fitzmaurice, W. P. Making an ally from an enemy: plant virology and the new agriculture. Annu. Rev. Phytopathol. 40, 45–74 (2002).Peyret, H. & Lomonossoff, G. P. When plant virology met Agrobacterium: the rise of the deconstructed clones. Plant Biotechnol. J. 13, 1121–1135 (2015).Bedoya, L. C., Martínez, F., Orzáez, D. & Daròs, J. A. Visual tracking of plant virus infection and movement using a reporter MYB transcription factor that activates anthocyanin biosynthesis. Plant Physiol. 158, 1130–1138 (2012).Majer, E., Daròs, J. A. & Zwart, M. P. Stability and fitness impact of the visually discernible Rosea1 marker in the Tobacco etch virus genome. Viruses 5, 2153–2168 (2013).Bedoya, L., Martínez, F., Rubio, L. & Daròs, J. A. Simultaneous equimolar expression of multiple proteins in plants from a disarmed potyvirus vector. J. Biotechnol. 150, 268–275 (2010).Kelloniemi, J., Mäkinen, K. & Valkonen, J. P. Three heterologous proteins simultaneously expressed from a chimeric potyvirus: infectivity, stability and the correlation of genome and virion lengths. Virus Res. 135, 282–291 (2008).Carrington, J. C., Haldeman, R., Dolja, V. V. & Restrepo-Hartwig, M. A. Internal cleavage and trans-proteolytic activities of the VPg-proteinase (NIa) of tobacco etch potyvirus in vivo . J. Virol. 67, 6995–7000 (1993).Li, X. H. & Carrington, J. C. Complementation of tobacco etch potyvirus mutants by active RNA polymerase expressed in transgenic cells. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92, 457–461 (1995).Fraser, P. D. & Bramley, P. M. The biosynthesis and nutritional uses of carotenoids. Prog. Lipid Res. 43, 228–265 (2004).Meléndez-Martínez, A. J., Mapelli-Brahm, P., Benítez-González, A. & Stinco, C. M. A comprehensive review on the colorless carotenoids phytoene and phytofluene. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 572, 188–200 (2015).Rodríguez-Concepción, M. & Boronat, A. Elucidation of the methylerythritol phosphate pathway for isoprenoid biosynthesis in bacteria and plastids. A metabolic milestone achieved through genomics. Plant Physiol. 130, 1079–1089 (2002).Giuliano, G. Plant carotenoids: genomics meets multi-gene engineering. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 19, 111–117 (2014).Cazzonelli, C. I. & Pogson, B. J. Source to sink: regulation of carotenoid biosynthesis in plants. Trends Plant Sci. 15, 266–274 (2010).Ruiz-Sola, M. A. & Rodríguez-Concepción, M. Carotenoid biosynthesis in Arabidopsis: a colorful pathway. Arabidopsis Book 10, e0158 (2012).Nisar, N., Li, L., Lu, S., Khin, N. C. & Pogson, B. J. Carotenoid metabolism in plants. Mol. Plant 8, 68–82 (2015).Misawa, N. et al. Elucidation of the Erwinia uredovora carotenoid biosynthetic pathway by functional analysis of gene products expressed in Escherichia coli . J. Bacteriol. 172, 6704–6712 (1990).Hasunuma, T. et al. Biosynthesis of astaxanthin in tobacco leaves by transplastomic engineering. Plant J. 55, 857–868 (2008).Lu, Y., Rijzaani, H., Karcher, D., Ruf, S. & Bock, R. Efficient metabolic pathway engineering in transgenic tobacco and tomato plastids with synthetic multigene operons. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 110, E623–632 (2013).Mann, V., Harker, M., Pecker, I. & Hirschberg, J. Metabolic engineering of astaxanthin production in tobacco flowers. Nat. Biotechnol. 18, 888–892 (2000).Wurbs, D., Ruf, S. & Bock, R. Contained metabolic engineering in tomatoes by expression of carotenoid biosynthesis genes from the plastid genome. Plant J. 49, 276–288 (2007).Cordero, M. T. et al. Dicer-like 4 is involved in restricting the systemic movement of Zucchini yellow mosaic virus in Nicotiana benthamiana . Mol. Plant-Microbe Interact. doi: 10.1094/MPMI-11-16-0239-R (2016).Ye, X. et al. Engineering the provitamin A (b-carotene) biosynthetic pathway into (carotenoid-free) rice endosperm. Science 287, 303–305 (2000).Ravanello, M. P., Ke, D., Alvarez, J., Huang, B. & Shewmaker, C. K. Coordinate expression of multiple bacterial carotenoid genes in canola leading to altered carotenoid production. Metab. Eng. 5, 255–263 (2003).Fujisawa, M. et al. Pathway engineering of Brassica napus seeds using multiple key enzyme genes involved in ketocarotenoid formation. J. Exp. Bot. 60, 1319–1332 (2009).Ohara, K., Ujihara, T., Endo, T., Sato, F. & Yazaki, K. Limonene production in tobacco with Perilla limonene synthase cDNA. J. Exp. Bot. 54, 2635–2642 (2003).Gutensohn, M. et al. Cytosolic monoterpene biosynthesis is supported by plastid-generated geranyl diphosphate substrate in transgenic tomato fruits. Plant J. 75, 351–363 (2013).Yamano, S., Ishii, T., Nakagawa, M., Ikenaga, H. & Misawa, N. Metabolic engineering for production of beta-carotene and lycopene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem. 58, 1112–1114 (1994).Bahieldin, A. et al. Efficient production of lycopene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by expression of synthetic crt genes from a plasmid harboring the ADH2 promoter. Plasmid 72, 18–28 (2014).Xie, W., Lv, X., Ye, L., Zhou, P. & Yu, H. Construction of lycopene-overproducing Saccharomyces cerevisiae by combining directed evolution and metabolic engineering. Metab. Eng. 30, 69–78 (2015).Li, Y., Cui, H., Cui, X. & Wang, A. The altered photosynthetic machinery during compatible virus infection. Curr. Opin. Virol. 17, 19–24 (2016).Tilsner, J. & Oparka, K. J. Tracking the green invaders: advances in imaging virus infection in plants. Biochem. J. 430, 21–37 (2010).Kumagai, M. H. et al. Cytoplasmic inhibition of carotenoid biosynthesis with virus-derived RNA. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92, 1679–1683 (1995).Kumagai, M. H., Keller, Y., Bouvier, F., Clary, D. & Camara, B. Functional integration of non-native carotenoids into chloroplasts by viral-derived expression of capsanthin-capsorubin synthase in Nicotiana benthamiana . Plant J. 14, 305–315 (1998).Zhai, S., Xia, X. & He, Z. Carotenoids in staple cereals: metabolism, regulation, and genetic manipulation. Front. Plant Sci. 7, 1197 (2016).Zhang, H. et al. A Narcissus mosaic viral vector system for protein expression and flavonoid production. Plant Methods 9, 28 (2013).Nielsen, A. Z. et al. Redirecting photosynthetic reducing power toward bioactive natural product synthesis. ACS Synth. Biol. 2, 308–315 (2013).Sainsbury, F., Saxena, P., Geisler, K., Osbourn, A. & Lomonossoff, G. P. Using a virus-derived system to manipulate plant natural product biosynthetic pathways. Methods Enzymol. 517, 185–202 (2012).Geisler, K. et al. Biochemical analysis of a multifunctional cytochrome P450 (CYP51) enzyme required for synthesis of antimicrobial triterpenes in plants. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 110, E3360–3367 (2013).Kanagarajan, S., Muthusamy, S., Gliszczynska, A., Lundgren, A. & Brodelius, P. E. Functional expression and characterization of sesquiterpene synthases from Artemisia annua L. using transient expression system in Nicotiana benthamiana . Plant Cell Rep. 31, 1309–1319 (2012).Mozes-Koch, R. et al. Expression of an entire bacterial operon in plants. Plant Physiol. 158, 1883–1892 (2012).Thole, V., Worland, B., Snape, J. W. & Vain, P. The pCLEAN dual binary vector system for Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation. Plant Physiol. 145, 1211–1219 (2007).Engler, C., Gruetzner, R., Kandzia, R. & Marillonnet, S. Golden gate shuffling: a one-pot DNA shuffling method based on type IIs restriction enzymes. PLoS One 4, e5553 (2009).Gibson, D. G. et al. Enzymatic assembly of DNA molecules up to several hundred kilobases. Nat. Methods 6, 343–345 (2009).Cunningham, F. X. Jr., Chamovitz, D., Misawa, N., Gantt, E. & Hirschberg, J. Cloning and functional expression in Escherichia coli of a cyanobacterial gene for lycopene cyclase, the enzyme that catalyzes the biosynthesis of b-carotene. FEBS Lett. 328, 130–138 (1993).Shivprasad, S. et al. Heterologous sequences greatly affect foreign gene expression in tobacco mosaic virus-based vectors. Virology 255, 312–323 (1999).Schürer, H., Lang, K., Schuster, J. & Mörl, M. A universal method to produce in vitro transcripts with homogeneous 3′ ends. Nucleic Acids Res. 30, e56 (2002).Lu, R. et al. High throughput virus-induced gene silencing implicates heat shock protein 90 in plant disease resistance. EMBO J. 22, 5690–5699 (2003).Dickmeis, C., Fischer, R. & Commandeur, U. Potato virus X-based expression vectors are stabilized for long-term production of proteins and larger inserts. Biotechnol. J. 9, 1369–1379 (2014).Nakagawa, T. et al. Improved Gateway binary vectors: high-performance vectors for creation of fusion constructs in transgenic analysis of plants. Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem. 71, 2095–2100 (2007).Bedoya, L. C. & Daròs, J. A. Stability of Tobacco etch virus infectious clones in plasmid vectors. Virus Res. 149, 234–240 (2010).Sparkes, I. A., Runions, J., Kearns, A. & Hawes, C. Rapid, transient expression of fluorescent fusion proteins in tobacco plants and generation of stably transformed plants. Nat. Protoc. 1, 2019–2025 (2006).Llorente, B. et al. Tomato fruit carotenoid biosynthesis is adjusted to actual ripening progression by a light-dependent mechanism. Plant J. 85, 107–119 (2016)

Antibodies Against β2-Glycoprotein I Complexed With an Oxidised Lipoprotein Relate to Intima Thickening of Carotid Arteries in Primary Antiphospholipid Syndrome

To explore whether antibodies against β2-glycoprotein I (β2GPI) complexed to 7-ketocholesteryl-9-carboxynonanoate (oxLig-1) and to oxidised low-density lipoproteins (oxLDL) relate to paraoxonase activity (PONa) and/or intima media thickness (IMT) of carotid arteries in primary antiphospholipid syndrome (PAPS). As many as 29 thrombotic patients with PAPS, 10 subjects with idiopathic antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) without thrombosis, 17 thrombotic patients with inherited thrombophilia and 23 healthy controls were investigated. The following were measured in all participants: β2GPI−oxLDL complexes, IgG anti-β2GPI−oxLig-1, IgG anti-β2GPI−oxLDL antibodies (ELISA), PONa, (para-nitrophenol method), IMT of common carotid (CC) artery, carotid bifurcation (B), internal carotid (IC) by high resolution sonography. β2GPI−oxLDL complex was highest in the control group (p < 0.01), whereas, IgG anti-β2GPI−oxLig1 and IgG anti-β2GPI−oxLDL were highest in PAPS (p < 0.0001). In healthy controls, β2GPI−oxLDL complexes positively correlated to IMT of the IC (p = 0.007) and negatively to PONa after correction for age (p < 0.03). PONa inversely correlated with age (p = 0.008). In PAPS, IgG anti-2GPI−oxLig-1 independently predicted PONa (p = 0.02) and IMT of B (p = 0.003), CC, (p = 0.03) and of IC (p = 0.04). In PAPS, PONa inversely correlated to the IMT of B, CC and IC (p = 0.01, 0.02 and 0.003, respectively). IgG anti-2GPI−oxLig-1 may be involved in PAPS related atherogenesis via decreased PON activity

Improving biomass production and saccharification in Brachypodium distachyon through overexpression of a sucrose-phosphate synthase from sugarcane

The substitution of fossil by renewable energy sources is a major strategy in reducing CO2 emission and mitigating climate change. In the transport sector, which is still mainly dependent on liquid fuels, the production of second generation ethanol from lignocellulosic feedstock is a promising strategy to substitute fossil fuels. The main prerequisites on designated crops for increased biomass production are high biomass yield and optimized saccharification for subsequent use in fermentation processes. We tried to address these traits by the overexpression of a sucrose-phosphate synthase gene (SoSPS) from sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) in the model grass Brachypodium distachyon. The resulting transgenic B. distachyon lines not only revealed increased plant height at early growth stages but also higher biomass yield from fully senesced plants, which was increased up to 52 % compared to wild-type. Additionally, we determined higher sucrose content in senesced leaf biomass from the transgenic lines, which correlated with improved biomass saccharification after conventional thermo-chemical pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis. Combining increased biomass production and saccharification efficiency in the generated B. distachyon SoSPS overexpression lines, we obtained a maximum of 74 % increase in glucose release per plant compared to wild-type. Therefore, we consider SoSPS overexpression as a promising approach in molecular breeding of energy crops for optimizing yields of biomass and its utilization in second generation biofuel production

Cross-Talk between the Cellular Redox State and the Circadian System in Neurospora

The circadian system is composed of a number of feedback loops, and multiple feedback loops in the form of oscillators help to maintain stable rhythms. The filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa exhibits a circadian rhythm during asexual spore formation (conidiation banding) and has a major feedback loop that includes the FREQUENCY (FRQ)/WHITE COLLAR (WC) -1 and -2 oscillator (FWO). A mutation in superoxide dismutase (sod)-1, an antioxidant gene, causes a robust and stable circadian rhythm compared with that of wild-type (Wt). However, the mechanisms underlying the functions of reactive oxygen species (ROS) remain unknown. Here, we show that cellular ROS concentrations change in a circadian manner (ROS oscillation), and the amplitudes of ROS oscillation increase with each cycle and then become steady (ROS homeostasis). The ROS oscillation and homeostasis are produced by the ROS-destroying catalases (CATs) and ROS-generating NADPH oxidase (NOX). cat-1 is also induced by illumination, and it reduces ROS levels. Although ROS oscillation persists in the absence of frq, wc-1 or wc-2, its homeostasis is altered. Furthermore, genetic and biochemical evidence reveals that ROS concentration regulates the transcriptional function of WCC and a higher ROS concentration enhances conidiation banding. These findings suggest that the circadian system engages in cross-talk with the cellular redox state via ROS-regulatory factors

Airborne Signals from a Wounded Leaf Facilitate Viral Spreading and Induce Antibacterial Resistance in Neighboring Plants

Many plants release airborne volatile compounds in response to wounding due to pathogenic assault. These compounds serve as plant defenses and are involved in plant signaling. Here, we study the effects of pectin methylesterase (PME)-generated methanol release from wounded plants (“emitters”) on the defensive reactions of neighboring “receiver” plants. Plant leaf wounding resulted in the synthesis of PME and a spike in methanol released into the air. Gaseous methanol or vapors from wounded PME-transgenic plants induced resistance to the bacterial pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum in the leaves of non-wounded neighboring “receiver” plants. In experiments with different volatile organic compounds, gaseous methanol was the only airborne factor that could induce antibacterial resistance in neighboring plants. In an effort to understand the mechanisms by which methanol stimulates the antibacterial resistance of “receiver” plants, we constructed forward and reverse suppression subtractive hybridization cDNA libraries from Nicotiana benthamiana plants exposed to methanol. We identified multiple methanol-inducible genes (MIGs), most of which are involved in defense or cell-to-cell trafficking. We then isolated the most affected genes for further analysis: β-1,3-glucanase (BG), a previously unidentified gene (MIG-21), and non-cell-autonomous pathway protein (NCAPP). Experiments with Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and a vector encoding two tandem copies of green fluorescent protein as a tracer of cell-to-cell movement showed the increased gating capacity of plasmodesmata in the presence of BG, MIG-21, and NCAPP. The increased gating capacity is accompanied by enhanced TMV reproduction in the “receivers”. Overall, our data indicate that methanol emitted by a wounded plant acts as a signal that enhances antibacterial resistance and facilitates viral spread in neighboring plants