Multilevel Systematic Optimization To Achieve Efficient Integrated Expression of Escherichia coli

Abstract

Genomic integration of heterologous genes is the preferred approach in industrial fermentation-related strains due to the drawbacks associated with plasmid-mediated microbial fermentation, including additional growth burden, genetic instability, and antibiotic contamination. Synthetic biology and genome editing advancements have made gene integration convenient. Integrated expression is extensively used in the field of biomanufacturing and is anticipated to become the prevailing method for expressing recombinant proteins. Therefore, it is pivotal to strengthen the expression of exogenous genes at the genome level. Here, we systematically optimized the integrated expression system of Escherichia coli from 3 aspects. First, the integration site slmA with the highest expression activity was screened out of 18 sites in the ORI region of the E. coli BL21 (DE3) genome. Second, we characterized 16 endogenous promoters in E. coli and combined them with the T7 promoter. A constitutive promoter, Plpp-T7, exhibited significantly higher expression strength than the T7 promoter, achieving a 3.3-fold increase in expression levels. Finally, to further enhance the T7 expression system, we proceeded with overexpression of T7 RNA polymerase at the chassis cell level. The resulting constitutive efficient integrated expression system (CEIES_Ecoli) showed a 2-fold increase in GFP expression compared to the pET3b recombinant plasmid. Therefore, CEIES_Ecoli was applied to the integrated expression of nitrilase and hyaluronidase, achieving stable and efficient enzyme expression, with enzyme activities of 22.87 and 12,195 U·mL^–1, respectively, comparable to plasmid levels. Overall, CEIES_Ecoli provides a stable and efficient method of gene expression without the need for antibiotics or inducers, making it a robust tool for synthetic biology, enzyme engineering, and related applications.