A functional metagenomic approach for expanding the synthetic biology toolbox for biomass conversion
Abstract Sustainable biofuel alternatives to fossil fuel energy are hampered by recalcitrance and toxicity of biomass substrates to microbial biocatalysts. To address this issue, we present a culture‐independent functional metagenomic platform for mining Nature's vast enzymatic reservoir and sh...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer Nature
2010-04-01
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| Series: | Molecular Systems Biology |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/msb.2010.16 |
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| _version_ | 1849225775535882240 |
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| author | Morten OA Sommer George M Church Gautam Dantas |
| author_facet | Morten OA Sommer George M Church Gautam Dantas |
| author_sort | Morten OA Sommer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Sustainable biofuel alternatives to fossil fuel energy are hampered by recalcitrance and toxicity of biomass substrates to microbial biocatalysts. To address this issue, we present a culture‐independent functional metagenomic platform for mining Nature's vast enzymatic reservoir and show its relevance to biomass conversion. We performed functional selections on 4.7 Gb of metagenomic fosmid libraries and show that genetic elements conferring tolerance toward seven important biomass inhibitors can be identified. We select two metagenomic fosmids that improve the growth of Escherichia coli by 5.7‐ and 6.9‐fold in the presence of inhibitory concentrations of syringaldehyde and 2‐furoic acid, respectively, and identify the individual genes responsible for these tolerance phenotypes. Finally, we combine the individual genes to create a three‐gene construct that confers tolerance to mixtures of these important biomass inhibitors. This platform presents a route for expanding the repertoire of genetic elements available to synthetic biology and provides a starting point for efforts to engineer robust strains for biofuel generation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-86c455e2046e474592cf9dcd301005b7 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1744-4292 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2010-04-01 |
| publisher | Springer Nature |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Molecular Systems Biology |
| spelling | doaj-art-86c455e2046e474592cf9dcd301005b72025-08-24T12:00:54ZengSpringer NatureMolecular Systems Biology1744-42922010-04-01611710.1038/msb.2010.16A functional metagenomic approach for expanding the synthetic biology toolbox for biomass conversionMorten OA Sommer0George M Church1Gautam Dantas2Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical SchoolDepartment of Genetics, Harvard Medical SchoolDepartment of Pathology and Immunology, Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University School of MedicineAbstract Sustainable biofuel alternatives to fossil fuel energy are hampered by recalcitrance and toxicity of biomass substrates to microbial biocatalysts. To address this issue, we present a culture‐independent functional metagenomic platform for mining Nature's vast enzymatic reservoir and show its relevance to biomass conversion. We performed functional selections on 4.7 Gb of metagenomic fosmid libraries and show that genetic elements conferring tolerance toward seven important biomass inhibitors can be identified. We select two metagenomic fosmids that improve the growth of Escherichia coli by 5.7‐ and 6.9‐fold in the presence of inhibitory concentrations of syringaldehyde and 2‐furoic acid, respectively, and identify the individual genes responsible for these tolerance phenotypes. Finally, we combine the individual genes to create a three‐gene construct that confers tolerance to mixtures of these important biomass inhibitors. This platform presents a route for expanding the repertoire of genetic elements available to synthetic biology and provides a starting point for efforts to engineer robust strains for biofuel generation.https://doi.org/10.1038/msb.2010.16biofuelsbiomass inhibitor tolerancefunctional metagenomicsstrain engineeringsynthetic biology |
| spellingShingle | Morten OA Sommer George M Church Gautam Dantas A functional metagenomic approach for expanding the synthetic biology toolbox for biomass conversion Molecular Systems Biology biofuels biomass inhibitor tolerance functional metagenomics strain engineering synthetic biology |
| title | A functional metagenomic approach for expanding the synthetic biology toolbox for biomass conversion |
| title_full | A functional metagenomic approach for expanding the synthetic biology toolbox for biomass conversion |
| title_fullStr | A functional metagenomic approach for expanding the synthetic biology toolbox for biomass conversion |
| title_full_unstemmed | A functional metagenomic approach for expanding the synthetic biology toolbox for biomass conversion |
| title_short | A functional metagenomic approach for expanding the synthetic biology toolbox for biomass conversion |
| title_sort | functional metagenomic approach for expanding the synthetic biology toolbox for biomass conversion |
| topic | biofuels biomass inhibitor tolerance functional metagenomics strain engineering synthetic biology |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/msb.2010.16 |
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