System-level characterization of engineered and evolved formatotrophic E. coli strains

One-carbon compounds, such as formate, are promising and sustainable feedstocks for microbial bioproduction of fuels and chemicals. Growth of Escherichia coli on formate was recently achieved by introducing the reductive glycine pathway (rGlyP) into its genome, which is theoretically the most energy...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Suzan Yilmaz, Boas Kanis, Rensco A.H. Hogers, Sara Benito-Vaquerizo, Jörg Kahnt, Timo Glatter, Beau Dronsella, Tobias J. Erb, Maria Suarez-Diez, Nico J. Claassens
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2025-06-01
Series:Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405805X25000341
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850217924861624320
author Suzan Yilmaz
Boas Kanis
Rensco A.H. Hogers
Sara Benito-Vaquerizo
Jörg Kahnt
Timo Glatter
Beau Dronsella
Tobias J. Erb
Maria Suarez-Diez
Nico J. Claassens
author_facet Suzan Yilmaz
Boas Kanis
Rensco A.H. Hogers
Sara Benito-Vaquerizo
Jörg Kahnt
Timo Glatter
Beau Dronsella
Tobias J. Erb
Maria Suarez-Diez
Nico J. Claassens
author_sort Suzan Yilmaz
collection DOAJ
description One-carbon compounds, such as formate, are promising and sustainable feedstocks for microbial bioproduction of fuels and chemicals. Growth of Escherichia coli on formate was recently achieved by introducing the reductive glycine pathway (rGlyP) into its genome, which is theoretically the most energy-efficient aerobic formate assimilation pathway. While adaptive laboratory evolution was used to enhance the growth rate and biomass yield significantly, still the best performing formatotrophic E. coli strain did not approach the theoretical optimal biomass yield of the rGlyP. In this study, we investigated these previously engineered formatotrophic E. coli strains to find out why the biomass yield was sub-optimal and how it may be improved. Through a combination of metabolic modelling, genomic and proteomic analysis, we identified several potential metabolic bottlenecks and future targets for optimization. This study also reveals further insights in the evolutionary mutations and related changes in proteome allocation that supported the already substantially improved growth of formatotrophic E. coli strains. This systems-level analysis provides key insights to realize high-yield, fast growing formatotrophic strains for future bioproduction.
format Article
id doaj-art-a8d02f2c9cec4cbcb50d0041e587b158
institution OA Journals
issn 2405-805X
language English
publishDate 2025-06-01
publisher KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
record_format Article
series Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology
spelling doaj-art-a8d02f2c9cec4cbcb50d0041e587b1582025-08-20T02:07:57ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology2405-805X2025-06-0110265066610.1016/j.synbio.2025.03.001System-level characterization of engineered and evolved formatotrophic E. coli strainsSuzan Yilmaz0Boas Kanis1Rensco A.H. Hogers2Sara Benito-Vaquerizo3Jörg Kahnt4Timo Glatter5Beau Dronsella6Tobias J. Erb7Maria Suarez-Diez8Nico J. Claassens9Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the NetherlandsLaboratory of Systems and Synthetic Biology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the NetherlandsLaboratory of Systems and Synthetic Biology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the NetherlandsLaboratory of Systems and Synthetic Biology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands; Genome Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, GermanyCore Facility for Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, GermanyCore Facility for Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, GermanyBiochemistry and Synthetic Metabolism, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, GermanyBiochemistry and Synthetic Metabolism, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany; Center for Synthetic Microbiology, Marburg, GermanyLaboratory of Systems and Synthetic Biology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the NetherlandsLaboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands; Corresponding author.One-carbon compounds, such as formate, are promising and sustainable feedstocks for microbial bioproduction of fuels and chemicals. Growth of Escherichia coli on formate was recently achieved by introducing the reductive glycine pathway (rGlyP) into its genome, which is theoretically the most energy-efficient aerobic formate assimilation pathway. While adaptive laboratory evolution was used to enhance the growth rate and biomass yield significantly, still the best performing formatotrophic E. coli strain did not approach the theoretical optimal biomass yield of the rGlyP. In this study, we investigated these previously engineered formatotrophic E. coli strains to find out why the biomass yield was sub-optimal and how it may be improved. Through a combination of metabolic modelling, genomic and proteomic analysis, we identified several potential metabolic bottlenecks and future targets for optimization. This study also reveals further insights in the evolutionary mutations and related changes in proteome allocation that supported the already substantially improved growth of formatotrophic E. coli strains. This systems-level analysis provides key insights to realize high-yield, fast growing formatotrophic strains for future bioproduction.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405805X25000341Escherichia coliMetabolic modellingC1-assimilationFormateReductive glycine pathway
spellingShingle Suzan Yilmaz
Boas Kanis
Rensco A.H. Hogers
Sara Benito-Vaquerizo
Jörg Kahnt
Timo Glatter
Beau Dronsella
Tobias J. Erb
Maria Suarez-Diez
Nico J. Claassens
System-level characterization of engineered and evolved formatotrophic E. coli strains
Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology
Escherichia coli
Metabolic modelling
C1-assimilation
Formate
Reductive glycine pathway
title System-level characterization of engineered and evolved formatotrophic E. coli strains
title_full System-level characterization of engineered and evolved formatotrophic E. coli strains
title_fullStr System-level characterization of engineered and evolved formatotrophic E. coli strains
title_full_unstemmed System-level characterization of engineered and evolved formatotrophic E. coli strains
title_short System-level characterization of engineered and evolved formatotrophic E. coli strains
title_sort system level characterization of engineered and evolved formatotrophic e coli strains
topic Escherichia coli
Metabolic modelling
C1-assimilation
Formate
Reductive glycine pathway
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405805X25000341
work_keys_str_mv AT suzanyilmaz systemlevelcharacterizationofengineeredandevolvedformatotrophicecolistrains
AT boaskanis systemlevelcharacterizationofengineeredandevolvedformatotrophicecolistrains
AT renscoahhogers systemlevelcharacterizationofengineeredandevolvedformatotrophicecolistrains
AT sarabenitovaquerizo systemlevelcharacterizationofengineeredandevolvedformatotrophicecolistrains
AT jorgkahnt systemlevelcharacterizationofengineeredandevolvedformatotrophicecolistrains
AT timoglatter systemlevelcharacterizationofengineeredandevolvedformatotrophicecolistrains
AT beaudronsella systemlevelcharacterizationofengineeredandevolvedformatotrophicecolistrains
AT tobiasjerb systemlevelcharacterizationofengineeredandevolvedformatotrophicecolistrains
AT mariasuarezdiez systemlevelcharacterizationofengineeredandevolvedformatotrophicecolistrains
AT nicojclaassens systemlevelcharacterizationofengineeredandevolvedformatotrophicecolistrains