Potential Biosafety Risks of Synthetic Biology Microorganism Leakage in Industry Settings to Drinking Water: A Review

Abstract

The rapid development of synthetic biology has brought enormous economic benefits. Synthetic biology enterprises are globally distributed, with major hubs in the United States, Europe and China. The purpose of synthetic biology is to construct higher-yielding strains. Many well-characterized synthetic biology chassis are widely used in metabolic engineering and scaled for industrial production. However, high-concentration bioproducts exhibit microbial toxicity during production, inhibiting microbial growth and reducing productivity. To increase yields and titers, synthetic biology has been widely applied to enhance microbial tolerance to bioproducts through membrane engineering, stress response engineering and transcription factor engineering. However, like many emerging innovations, opportunities coexist with neglected risks. Synthetic biology microorganisms (SynBioMs) can enter natural water environments via wastewater discharge. Molecular engineering methods enhancing microbial tolerance to bioproducts may concurrently increase disinfectant resistance and enable evasion of water treatment processes, posing threats to drinking water biosafety. What’s more, the leaked industrial high-yield SynBioMs may exploit limited carbon sources in drinking water to produce bioproducts. Researchers are actively developing biocontainment strategies to prevent their dispersal in natural ecosystems, such as auxotrophy and genetic circuits. However, there are no relevant regulations mandating the addition of containment strategies for SynBioMs. Efforts to advance the synthetic biology economy and the development of leakage control strategies must proceed in tandem.