Signal sequences target enzymes and structural proteins to bacterial microcompartments and are critical for microcompartment formation
ABSTRACT Spatial organization of pathway enzymes has emerged as a promising tool to address several challenges in metabolic engineering, such as flux imbalances and off-target product formation. Bacterial microcompartments (MCPs) are a spatial organization strategy used natively by many bacteria to...
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| Language: | English |
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American Society for Microbiology
2025-05-01
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| Series: | mSphere |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/msphere.00962-24 |
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| author | Elizabeth R. Johnson Nolan W. Kennedy Carolyn E. Mills Shiqi Liang Swetha Chandrasekar Taylor M. Nichols Grant A. Rybnicky Danielle Tullman-Ercek |
| author_facet | Elizabeth R. Johnson Nolan W. Kennedy Carolyn E. Mills Shiqi Liang Swetha Chandrasekar Taylor M. Nichols Grant A. Rybnicky Danielle Tullman-Ercek |
| author_sort | Elizabeth R. Johnson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT Spatial organization of pathway enzymes has emerged as a promising tool to address several challenges in metabolic engineering, such as flux imbalances and off-target product formation. Bacterial microcompartments (MCPs) are a spatial organization strategy used natively by many bacteria to encapsulate metabolic pathways that produce toxic, volatile intermediates. Several recent studies have focused on engineering MCPs to encapsulate heterologous pathways of interest, but how this engineering affects MCP assembly and function is poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the role of signal sequences, short domains that target proteins to the MCP core, in the assembly of 1,2-propanediol utilization (Pdu) MCPs. We characterized two novel Pdu signal sequences on the structural proteins PduM and PduB, which constitute the first report of metabolosome signal sequences on structural proteins rather than enzymes. We then explored the role of enzymatic and structural Pdu signal sequences on MCP assembly by deleting their encoding sequences from the genome alone and in combination. Deleting enzymatic signal sequences decreased the MCP formation, but this defect could be recovered in some cases by overexpressing genes encoding the knocked-out signal sequence fused to a heterologous protein. By contrast, deleting structural signal sequences caused similar defects to knocking out the genes encoding the full-length PduM and PduB proteins. Our results contribute to a growing understanding of how MCPs form and function in bacteria and provide strategies to mitigate assembly disruption when encapsulating heterologous pathways in MCPs.IMPORTANCESpatially organizing biosynthetic pathway enzymes is a promising strategy to increase pathway throughput and yield. Bacterial microcompartments (MCPs) are proteinaceous organelles that many bacteria natively use as a spatial organization strategy to encapsulate niche metabolic pathways, providing significant metabolic benefits. Encapsulating heterologous pathways of interest in MCPs could confer these benefits to industrially relevant pathways. Here, we investigate the role of signal sequences, short domains that target proteins for encapsulation in MCPs, in the assembly of 1,2-propanediol utilization (Pdu) MCPs. We characterize two novel signal sequences on structural proteins, constituting the first Pdu signal sequences found on structural proteins rather than enzymes, and perform knockout studies to compare the impacts of enzymatic and structural signal sequences on MCP assembly. Our results demonstrate that enzymatic and structural signal sequences play critical but distinct roles in Pdu MCP assembly and provide design rules for engineering MCPs while minimizing disruption to MCP assembly. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9f150b8aa32745b9bfe848a2a9683eb0 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2379-5042 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | American Society for Microbiology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | mSphere |
| spelling | doaj-art-9f150b8aa32745b9bfe848a2a9683eb02025-08-20T01:56:25ZengAmerican Society for MicrobiologymSphere2379-50422025-05-0110510.1128/msphere.00962-24Signal sequences target enzymes and structural proteins to bacterial microcompartments and are critical for microcompartment formationElizabeth R. Johnson0Nolan W. Kennedy1Carolyn E. Mills2Shiqi Liang3Swetha Chandrasekar4Taylor M. Nichols5Grant A. Rybnicky6Danielle Tullman-Ercek7Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USADepartment of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USADepartment of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USACenter for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USACenter for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USADepartment of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USACenter for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USADepartment of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USAABSTRACT Spatial organization of pathway enzymes has emerged as a promising tool to address several challenges in metabolic engineering, such as flux imbalances and off-target product formation. Bacterial microcompartments (MCPs) are a spatial organization strategy used natively by many bacteria to encapsulate metabolic pathways that produce toxic, volatile intermediates. Several recent studies have focused on engineering MCPs to encapsulate heterologous pathways of interest, but how this engineering affects MCP assembly and function is poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the role of signal sequences, short domains that target proteins to the MCP core, in the assembly of 1,2-propanediol utilization (Pdu) MCPs. We characterized two novel Pdu signal sequences on the structural proteins PduM and PduB, which constitute the first report of metabolosome signal sequences on structural proteins rather than enzymes. We then explored the role of enzymatic and structural Pdu signal sequences on MCP assembly by deleting their encoding sequences from the genome alone and in combination. Deleting enzymatic signal sequences decreased the MCP formation, but this defect could be recovered in some cases by overexpressing genes encoding the knocked-out signal sequence fused to a heterologous protein. By contrast, deleting structural signal sequences caused similar defects to knocking out the genes encoding the full-length PduM and PduB proteins. Our results contribute to a growing understanding of how MCPs form and function in bacteria and provide strategies to mitigate assembly disruption when encapsulating heterologous pathways in MCPs.IMPORTANCESpatially organizing biosynthetic pathway enzymes is a promising strategy to increase pathway throughput and yield. Bacterial microcompartments (MCPs) are proteinaceous organelles that many bacteria natively use as a spatial organization strategy to encapsulate niche metabolic pathways, providing significant metabolic benefits. Encapsulating heterologous pathways of interest in MCPs could confer these benefits to industrially relevant pathways. Here, we investigate the role of signal sequences, short domains that target proteins for encapsulation in MCPs, in the assembly of 1,2-propanediol utilization (Pdu) MCPs. We characterize two novel signal sequences on structural proteins, constituting the first Pdu signal sequences found on structural proteins rather than enzymes, and perform knockout studies to compare the impacts of enzymatic and structural signal sequences on MCP assembly. Our results demonstrate that enzymatic and structural signal sequences play critical but distinct roles in Pdu MCP assembly and provide design rules for engineering MCPs while minimizing disruption to MCP assembly.https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/msphere.00962-24bacterial microcompartmentsself-assemblyprotein encapsulation1,2-propanediol utilization microcompartment |
| spellingShingle | Elizabeth R. Johnson Nolan W. Kennedy Carolyn E. Mills Shiqi Liang Swetha Chandrasekar Taylor M. Nichols Grant A. Rybnicky Danielle Tullman-Ercek Signal sequences target enzymes and structural proteins to bacterial microcompartments and are critical for microcompartment formation mSphere bacterial microcompartments self-assembly protein encapsulation 1,2-propanediol utilization microcompartment |
| title | Signal sequences target enzymes and structural proteins to bacterial microcompartments and are critical for microcompartment formation |
| title_full | Signal sequences target enzymes and structural proteins to bacterial microcompartments and are critical for microcompartment formation |
| title_fullStr | Signal sequences target enzymes and structural proteins to bacterial microcompartments and are critical for microcompartment formation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Signal sequences target enzymes and structural proteins to bacterial microcompartments and are critical for microcompartment formation |
| title_short | Signal sequences target enzymes and structural proteins to bacterial microcompartments and are critical for microcompartment formation |
| title_sort | signal sequences target enzymes and structural proteins to bacterial microcompartments and are critical for microcompartment formation |
| topic | bacterial microcompartments self-assembly protein encapsulation 1,2-propanediol utilization microcompartment |
| url | https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/msphere.00962-24 |
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