Microbial Biotechnology最新文献

{"title":"Development of a FungalBraid Penicillium expansum-based expression system for the production of antifungal proteins in fungal biofactories","authors":"Mónica Gandía,&nbsp;Elena Moreno-Giménez,&nbsp;Moisés Giner-Llorca,&nbsp;Sandra Garrigues,&nbsp;Carolina Ropero-Pérez,&nbsp;Antonella Locascio,&nbsp;Pedro V. Martínez-Culebras,&nbsp;Jose F. Marcos,&nbsp;Paloma Manzanares","doi":"10.1111/1751-7915.14006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.14006","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Fungal antifungal proteins (AFPs) have attracted attention as novel biofungicides. Their exploitation requires safe and cost-effective producing biofactories. Previously, <i>Penicillium chrysogenum</i> and <i>Penicillium digitatum</i> produced recombinant AFPs with the use of a <i>P. chrysogenum</i>-based expression system that consisted of the <i>paf</i> gene promoter, signal peptide (SP)-pro sequence and terminator. Here, the regulatory elements of the <i>afpA</i> gene encoding the highly produced PeAfpA from <i>Penicillium expansum</i> were developed as an expression system for AFP production through the FungalBraid platform. The <i>afpA</i> cassette was tested to produce PeAfpA and <i>P. digitatum</i> PdAfpB in <i>P. chrysogenum</i> and <i>P. digitatum</i>, and its efficiency was compared to that of the <i>paf</i> cassette. Recombinant PeAfpA production was only achieved using the <i>afpA</i> cassette, being <i>P. chrysogenum</i> a more efficient biofactory than <i>P. digitatum</i>. Conversely, <i>P. chrysogenum</i> only produced PdAfpB under the control of the <i>paf</i> cassette. In <i>P. digitatum</i>, both expression systems allowed PdAfpB production, with the <i>paf</i> cassette resulting in higher protein yields. Interestingly, these results did not correlate with the performance of both promoters in a luciferase reporter system. In conclusion, AFP production is a complex outcome that depends on the regulatory sequences driving <i>afp</i> expression, the fungal biofactory and the AFP sequence.</p>","PeriodicalId":49145,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Biotechnology","volume":"15 2","pages":"630-647"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2022-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1751-7915.14006","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"5821571","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Developing an understanding of sophorolipid synthesis through application of a central composite design model","authors":"Benjamin Ingham,&nbsp;James Winterburn","doi":"10.1111/1751-7915.14003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.14003","url":null,"abstract":"<p>A key barrier to market penetration for sophorolipid biosurfactants is the ability to improve productivity and utilize alternative feedstocks to reduce the cost of production. To do this, a suitable screening tool is required that is able to model the interactions between media components and alter conditions to maximize productivity. In the following work, a central composite design is applied to analyse the effects of altering glucose, rapeseed oil, corn steep liquor and ammonium sulphate concentrations on sophorolipid production with <i>Starmerella bombicola</i> ATCC 222144 after 168 h. Sophorolipid production was analysed using standard least squares regression and the findings related to the growth (OD₆₀₀) and broth conditions (glucose, glycerol and oil concentration). An optimum media composition was found that was capable of producing 39.5 g l^–1 sophorolipid. Nitrogen and rapeseed oil sources were found to be significant, linked to their role in growth and substrate supply respectively. Glucose did not demonstrate a significant effect on production despite its importance to biosynthesis and its depletion in the broth within 96 h, instead being replaced by glycerol (via triglyceride breakdown) as the hydrophilic carbon source at the point of glucose depletion. A large dataset was obtained, and a regression model with applications towards substrate screening and process optimisation developed.</p>","PeriodicalId":49145,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Biotechnology","volume":"15 6","pages":"1744-1761"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2022-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ami-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1751-7915.14003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"5672347","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Water is a preservative of microbes","authors":"John E. Hallsworth","doi":"10.1111/1751-7915.13980","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.13980","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Water is the cellular milieu, drives all biochemistry within Earth’s biosphere and facilitates microbe-mediated decay processes. Instead of reviewing these topics, the current article focuses on the activities of water as a preservative—its capacity to maintain the long-term integrity and viability of microbial cells—and identifies the mechanisms by which this occurs. Water provides for, and maintains, cellular structures; buffers against thermodynamic extremes, at various scales; can mitigate events that are traumatic to the cell membrane, such as desiccation–rehydration, freeze–thawing and thermal shock; prevents microbial dehydration that can otherwise exacerbate oxidative damage; mitigates against biocidal factors (in some circumstances reducing ultraviolet radiation and diluting solute stressors or toxic substances); and is effective at electrostatic screening so prevents damage to the cell by the intense electrostatic fields of some ions. In addition, the water retained in desiccated cells (historically referred to as ‘bound’ water) plays key roles in biomacromolecular structures and their interactions even for fully hydrated cells. Assuming that the components of the cell membrane are chemically stable or at least repairable, and the environment is fairly constant, water molecules can apparently maintain membrane geometries over very long periods provided these configurations represent thermodynamically stable states. The spores and vegetative cells of many microbes survive longer in the presence of vapour-phase water (at moderate-to-high relative humidities) than under more-arid conditions. There are several mechanisms by which large bodies of water, when cooled during subzero weather conditions remain in a liquid state thus preventing potentially dangerous (freeze–thaw) transitions for their microbiome. Microbial life can be preserved in pure water, freshwater systems, seawater, brines, ice/permafrost, sugar-rich aqueous milieux and vapour-phase water according to laboratory-based studies carried out over periods of years to decades and some natural environments that have yielded cells that are apparently thousands, or even (for hypersaline fluid inclusions of mineralized NaCl) hundreds of millions, of years old. The term <i>preservative</i> has often been restricted to those substances used to extend the shelf life of foods (e.g. sodium benzoate, nitrites and sulphites) or those used to conserve dead organisms, such as ethanol or formaldehyde. For living microorganisms however, the ultimate preservative may actually be water. Implications of this role are discussed with reference to the ecology of halophiles, human pathogens and other microbes; food science; biotechnology; biosignatures for life and other aspects of astrobiology; and the large-scale release/reactivation of preserved microbes caused by global climate change.</p>","PeriodicalId":49145,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Biotechnology","volume":"15 1","pages":"191-214"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2021-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1751-7915.13980","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"5756688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Domestication of proteins – from evolution to revolution","authors":"John van der Oost","doi":"10.1111/1751-7915.13987","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.13987","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;In the course of natural evolution, an overwhelming diversity of proteins has emerged. Collectively, these proteins are responsible for a wide range of biological functions that, in one way or another, support live. Billions of years of natural selection have resulted in survival of the fittest protein variants that function appropriately in the context of a biological entity. When using these proteins for biotechnology applications, however, it is often required to improve their performance, because of distinct conditions (&lt;i&gt;in vitro&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;ex vivo&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;in vivo&lt;/i&gt;) and different demands (activity, specificity, stability).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hence, repurposing natural proteins for biotechnological applications generally requires domestication, aiming at optimising their functionality by adjusting their amino acid sequence. Rational engineering approaches aim at specifically substituting one or more amino acid residues by engineering of the corresponding gene. Rational design obviously requires a relatively high level of understanding of structural and functional features of the protein of interest. In case insights are lacking on how to rationally improve a certain protein's functionality, laboratory evolution is an attractive alternative. The impact of laboratory evolution in optimising proteins is reflected by the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018, awarded to Frances H. Arnold, George P. Smith, and Gregory P. Winter.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Like natural evolution, laboratory evolution is based on repeated cycles of genetic variation, expression and selection (Stemmer, &lt;span&gt;1994&lt;/span&gt;; Arnold, &lt;span&gt;2018&lt;/span&gt;). To allow tracing a protein variant with a desired functionality back to its gene, a genotype-to-phenotype linkage is a key requirement. This can be achieved either by physically linking the gene and gene-encoded product (DNA display, mRNA display, ribosome display), or by compartmentalising the gene and the corresponding protein within the same physical space (reviewed by Bouzetos et al., &lt;span&gt;2021&lt;/span&gt;). Unicellular microorganisms (e.g. &lt;i&gt;E&lt;/i&gt;. &lt;i&gt;coli&lt;/i&gt;) or viral particles (e.g. M13) are often used as biological micro-compartments.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Despite spectacular technical and biochemical progress, laboratory evolution systems are often technically challenging. Successful applications rely on efficient genetic variation, robust protein production, and smart screening/selection of improved variants. In addition, especially in case of huge libraries (a million variants or more), the process can be rather laborious and/or expensive. A spectacular development concerns a Phage-Assisted Continuous Evolution system (Esvelt et al., &lt;span&gt;2011&lt;/span&gt;). In this PACE approach, M13 phages carry a gene encoding a protein-of-interest that controls the production of functional phage particles in a mutator &lt;i&gt;E&lt;/i&gt;. &lt;i&gt;coli&lt;/i&gt; host. The fitness of released M13 particles directly correlates with the fitness of the protein-of-interest. Within a couple of days, many cycles o","PeriodicalId":49145,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Biotechnology","volume":"15 1","pages":"189-190"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1751-7915.13987","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"5909117","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Biomining of metals: new challenges for the next 15 years","authors":"Patricio Martínez-Bellange,&nbsp;Diego von Bernath,&nbsp;Claudio A. Navarro,&nbsp;Carlos A. Jerez","doi":"10.1111/1751-7915.13985","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.13985","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Due to the current and future scenario in which phenomena such as global warming, massive industrial waste, excessive pollution of the ecosystem, water scarcity, among other negative variables, our planet and society, faces the urgent need to advance in the generation of more sustainable and environmentally friendly mining methods. The decline in the quality of the geological resources, specifically the increase of low-grade minerals, has created a scenario under which mining companies must make great efforts to maintain their current production levels.\u0000 <figure>\u0000 <div><picture>\u0000 <source></source></picture><p></p>\u0000 </div>\u0000 </figure></p>","PeriodicalId":49145,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Biotechnology","volume":"15 1","pages":"186-188"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2021-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1751-7915.13985","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"5897526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"When microbial biotechnology meets material engineering","authors":"Ana M. Hernández-Arriaga,&nbsp;Cristina Campano,&nbsp;Virginia Rivero-Buceta,&nbsp;M. Auxiliadora Prieto","doi":"10.1111/1751-7915.13975","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.13975","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Bacterial biopolymers such as bacterial cellulose (BC), alginate or polyhydroxyalkanotes (PHAs) have aroused the interest of researchers in many fields, for instance biomedicine and packaging, due to their being biodegradable, biocompatible and renewable. Their properties can easily be tuned by means of microbial biotechnology strategies combined with materials science. This provides them with highly diverse properties, conferring them non-native features. Herein we highlight the enormous structural diversity of these macromolecules, how are they produced, as well as their wide range of potential applications in our daily lives. The emergence of new technologies, such as synthetic biology, enables the creation of next-generation-advanced materials presenting smart functional properties, for example the ability to sense and respond to stimuli as well as the capacity for self-repair. All this has given rise to the recent emergence of biohybrid materials, in which a synthetic component is brought to life with living organisms. Two different subfields have recently garnered particular attention: hybrid living materials (HLMs), such as encapsulation or bioprinting, and engineered living materials (ELMs), in which the material is created bottom-up with the use of microbial biotechnology tools. Early studies showed the strong potential of alginate and PHAs as HLMs, whilst BC constituted the most currently promising material for the creation of ELMs.</p>","PeriodicalId":49145,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Biotechnology","volume":"15 1","pages":"149-163"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2021-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1751-7915.13975","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"5703432","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"mRNA vaccines against COVID-19: a showcase for the importance of microbial biotechnology","authors":"Harald Brüssow","doi":"10.1111/1751-7915.13974","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.13974","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna developed in record time mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 of high efficacy. The modest protection achieved with a similarly designed mRNA from CureVac underlines the importance of biotechnological details in formulation such as replacement of uridine by pseudouridine in the mRNA encoding the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein or the lipid composition of the nanoparticle coating the mRNA. Phase 3 vaccine trials and vaccine studies in special subject groups as well observational studies in whole populations confirmed the real-world vaccine efficacy against symptomatic disease, particularly against severe COVID-19 cases and to a lesser extent against mild SARS-CoV-2 infections. mRNA vaccine protection extended also to the alpha and beta variant viruses. The surge of delta variants led to an increase of infections and cases even in populations which achieved high vaccine coverage. This efficacy decline resulted to a lesser extent from a weaker neutralization of the delta variant but mostly from a waning vaccine protection over time. Data from Israel documented the efficacy of a third ‘booster’ injection 5 months after the second injection in older segments of the population. Adverse reactions consisted of transient injection site pain, headache, muscle pain, fatigue, fever and chills. Extensive surveillance studies documented a good safety profile revealing only a non-significant increase in transient facial nerve paralysis and a significant, but modest increase in myocarditis in vaccinated young males that was lower than the myocarditis risk induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection.</p>","PeriodicalId":49145,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Biotechnology","volume":"15 1","pages":"135-148"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2021-11-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1751-7915.13974","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"6189718","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"DebaryOmics: an integrative –omics study to understand the halophilic behaviour of Debaryomyces hansenii","authors":"Clara Navarrete,&nbsp;Benjamín J. Sánchez,&nbsp;Simonas Savickas,&nbsp;José L. Martínez","doi":"10.1111/1751-7915.13954","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.13954","url":null,"abstract":"<p><i>Debaryomyces hansenii</i> is a non-conventional yeast considered to be a well-suited option for a number of different industrial bioprocesses. It exhibits a set of beneficial traits (halotolerant, oleaginous, xerotolerant, inhibitory compounds resistant) which translates to a number of advantages for industrial fermentation setups when compared to traditional hosts. Although <i>D. hansenii</i> has been highly studied during the last three decades, especially in regards to its salt-tolerant character, the molecular mechanisms underlying this natural tolerance should be further investigated in order to broadly use this yeast in biotechnological processes. In this work, we performed a series of chemostat cultivations in controlled bioreactors where <i>D. hansenii</i> (CBS 767) was grown in the presence of either 1M NaCl or KCl and studied the transcriptomic and (phospho)proteomic profiles. Our results show that sodium and potassium trigger different responses at both expression and regulation of protein activity levels and also complemented previous reports pointing to specific cellular processes as key players in halotolerance, moreover providing novel information about the specific genes involved in each process. The phosphoproteomic analysis, the first of this kind ever reported in <i>D. hansenii</i>, also implicated a novel and yet uncharacterized cation transporter in the response to high sodium concentrations.</p>","PeriodicalId":49145,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Biotechnology","volume":"15 4","pages":"1133-1151"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2021-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1751-7915.13954","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"6094099","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Faecal microbiota transplantation-mediated jejunal microbiota changes halt high-fat diet-induced obesity in mice via retarding intestinal fat absorption","authors":"Luoyi Zhu,&nbsp;Jie Fu,&nbsp;Xiao Xiao,&nbsp;Fengqin Wang,&nbsp;Mingliang Jin,&nbsp;Weihuan Fang,&nbsp;Yizhen Wang,&nbsp;Xin Zong","doi":"10.1111/1751-7915.13951","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.13951","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Faecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) is considered as a promising technology to fight against obesity. Wild boar has leanermuscle and less fat in comparison to the domestic pig, which were thought to be related with microbiota. To investigate the function and mechanism of the wild boar microbiota on obesity, we first analysed the wild boar microbiota composition via 16S rDNA sequencing, which showed that Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were the dominant bacteria. Then, we established a high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity model, and transfer low and high concentrations of wild boar faecal suspension in mice for 9 weeks. The results showed that FMT prevented HFD-induced obesity and lipid metabolism disorders, and altered the jejunal microbiota composition especially increasing the abundance of the <i>Lactobacillus</i> and <i>Romboutsia</i>, which were negatively correlated with obesity-related indicators. Moreover, we found that the anti-obesity effect of wild boar faecal suspension was associated with jejunal N6-methyladenosine (m⁶A) levels. Overall, these results suggest that FMT has a mitigating effect on HFD-induced obesity, which may be due to the impressive effects of FMT on the microbial composition and structure of the jejunum. These changes further alter intestinal lipid metabolism and m⁶A levels to achieve resistance to obesity.</p>","PeriodicalId":49145,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Biotechnology","volume":"15 1","pages":"337-352"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2021-10-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1751-7915.13951","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"6074589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sense and sensibility: of synthetic biology and the redesign of bioreporter circuits","authors":"Shimshon Belkin,&nbsp;Baojun Wang","doi":"10.1111/1751-7915.13955","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.13955","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;It is tempting to speculate that sixty years ago, when Jacob and Monod presented their model of the &lt;i&gt;lac&lt;/i&gt; operon (Jacob and Monod, &lt;span&gt;1961&lt;/span&gt;), they already had a glimpse of the future of the &lt;i&gt;lacZ&lt;/i&gt; gene, not only as encoding a cleaver of disaccharides, nor as a component in a beautiful and groundbreaking model of gene regulation, but also as a universal reporter of gene activation. Indeed, reporter gene technology rapidly became a basic tool in studying the regulation of gene expression; several decades had to pass, however, before the same approach has led to the first report of a microorganism genetically engineered to perform an accurate, specific and sensitive analysis of an environmental pollutant (King &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;., &lt;span&gt;1990&lt;/span&gt;). The term ‘whole cell biosensor’ soon entered into use, accompanied by some semantic controversy: purists view the term ‘biosensor’ as a hardware device, in which the biological entity (e.g. enzyme, antibody, oligonucleotide or a live cell) serves as its sensing component (IUPAC, &lt;span&gt;2017&lt;/span&gt;); according to this view, a microbial strain, notwithstanding the complexity of its re-engineering, may be called a ‘sensor strain’ or a ‘bioreporter’, but never a ‘biosensor’. Long before this linguistic polemic became an issue, however, a pioneering article from the Sayler group (King &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;., &lt;span&gt;1990&lt;/span&gt;) described a bioluminescent &lt;i&gt;Pseudomonas&lt;/i&gt;-based sensor of naphthalene. This publication was trailed by the first &lt;i&gt;E. coli&lt;/i&gt;-based mercury sensor (Selifonova &lt;i&gt;et al.&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;span&gt;1993&lt;/span&gt;), soon to be followed by numerous others, all sharing the same basic structure: a gene promoter induced by the target compound (directly, or via the removal of a repressor), fused downstream of a reporter gene. The latter could code for a traceable protein (e.g. GFP) or – more often – for an enzyme, the activity of which could be monitored quantitatively in real time (van der Meer and Belkin, &lt;span&gt;2010&lt;/span&gt;). When necessary, regulatory elements had to be cloned as well, especially when the gene promoter acting as the sensing element was not native to the host organism. In view of the practically infinite number of gene promoters and regulatory proteins available as candidate sensor elements, the scope of possible sensing targets of such sensors is exceptionally broad. In parallel to the development of microbial sensors of specific compounds, bioreporter strains have also been described for the detection of global sample characteristics such as toxicity or genotoxicity/mutagenicity, parameters of importance for environmental health as well as for chemicals’ safety. The commercial SOS Chromotest (Quillardet &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;., &lt;span&gt;1982&lt;/span&gt;), the forerunner of this group of assays, was followed by the &lt;i&gt;umu&lt;/i&gt;-test (Oda &lt;i&gt;et al&lt;/i&gt;., &lt;span&gt;1985&lt;/span&gt;). In both cases, the activation of gene promoters from the &lt;i&gt;E. coli&lt;/i&gt; SOS repair regulon by DNA damaging agents was chromogenical","PeriodicalId":49145,"journal":{"name":"Microbial Biotechnology","volume":"15 1","pages":"103-106"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2021-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1751-7915.13955","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"5704399","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}