Rapid metabolic pathway assembly and modification using serine integrase site-specific recombination

Synthetic biology requires effective methods to assemble DNA parts into devices and to modify these devices once made. Here we demonstrate a convenient rapid procedure for DNA fragment assembly using site-specific recombination by ϕC31 integrase. Using six orthogonal attP/attB recombination site pairs with different overlap sequences, we can assemble up to five DNA fragments in a defined order and insert them into a plasmid vector in a single recombination reaction. ϕC31 integrase-mediated assembly is highly efficient, allowing production of large libraries suitable for combinatorial gene assembly strategies. The resultant assemblies contain arrays of DNA cassettes separated by recombination sites, which can be used to manipulate the assembly by further recombination. We illustrate the utility of these procedures to (i) assemble functional metabolic pathways containing three, four or five genes; (ii) optimize productivity of two model metabolic pathways by combinatorial assembly with randomization of gene order or ribosome binding site strength; and (iii) modify an assembled metabolic pathway by gene replacement or addition

Rapid optimization of engineered metabolic pathways with serine integrase recombinational assembly (SIRA)

Metabolic pathway engineering in microbial hosts for heterologous biosynthesis of commodity compounds and fine chemicals offers a cheaper, greener, and more reliable method of production than does chemical synthesis. However, engineering metabolic pathways within a microbe is a complicated process: levels of gene expression, protein stability, enzyme activity, and metabolic flux must be balanced for high productivity without compromising host cell viability. A major rate-limiting step in engineering microbes for optimum biosynthesis of a target compound is DNA assembly, as current methods can be cumbersome and costly. Serine integrase recombinational assembly (SIRA) is a rapid DNA assembly method that utilizes serine integrases, and is particularly applicable to rapid optimization of engineered metabolic pathways. Using six pairs of orthogonal attP and attB sites with different central dinucleotide sequences that follow SIRA design principles, we have demonstrated that ΦC31 integrase can be used to (1) insert a single piece of DNA into a substrate plasmid; (2) assemble three, four, and five DNA parts encoding the enzymes for functional metabolic pathways in a one-pot reaction; (3) generate combinatorial libraries of metabolic pathway constructs with varied ribosome binding site strengths or gene orders in a one-pot reaction; and (4) replace and add DNA parts within a construct through targeted postassembly modification. We explain the mechanism of SIRA and the principles behind designing a SIRA reaction. We also provide protocols for making SIRA reaction components and practical methods for applying SIRA to rapid optimization of metabolic pathways