Rozenn Gardan, Edith Honvo-Houeto, Christine Mézange, Nathanael Jean Maillot, Aurélie Balvay, Sylvie Rabot, Luis G Bermúdez-Humarán, Philippe Langella, Véronique Monnet, Vincent Juillard
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Streptococcus thermophilus holds promise as a chassis for producing and secreting heterologous proteins. Used for thousands of years to ferment milk, this species has generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status in the USA and qualified presumption of safety (QPS) status in Europe. In addition, it can be easily genetically modified thanks to its natural competence, and it secretes very few endogenous proteins, which means less downstream processing is needed to purify target proteins, reducing costs. Extracellular degradation of heterologous proteins can be eliminated by introducing mutations that inactivate the genes encoding the bacterium's three major surface proteases. Here, we constructed an inducible expression system that utilizes a peptide pheromone (SHP1358) and a transcriptional regulator (Rgg1358) involved in quorum-sensing regulation. We explored the functionality of a complete version of the system, in which the inducer is produced by the bacterium itself, by synthesizing a luciferase reporter protein. This complete version was assessed with bacteria grown in a chemically defined medium but also in vivo, in the faeces of germ-free mice. We also tested an incomplete version, in which the inducer had to be added to the culture medium, by synthesizing luciferase and a secreted form of elafin, a human protein with therapeutic properties. Our results show that, in our system, protein production can be modulated by employing different concentrations of the SHP1358 inducer or other SHPs with closed amino acid sequences. We also constructed a genetic background in which all system leakiness was eliminated. In conclusion, with this new inducible expression system, we have added to the set of tools currently used to produce secreted proteins in S. thermophilus, whose myriad applications include the delivery of therapeutic peptides or proteins.
期刊介绍:
We publish high-quality original research on bacteria, fungi, protists, archaea, algae, parasites and other microscopic life forms.
Topics include but are not limited to:
Antimicrobials and antimicrobial resistance
Bacteriology and parasitology
Biochemistry and biophysics
Biofilms and biological systems
Biotechnology and bioremediation
Cell biology and signalling
Chemical biology
Cross-disciplinary work
Ecology and environmental microbiology
Food microbiology
Genetics
Host–microbe interactions
Microbial methods and techniques
Microscopy and imaging
Omics, including genomics, proteomics and metabolomics
Physiology and metabolism
Systems biology and synthetic biology
The microbiome.