Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
4.3
3.2
Journals
Life
Special Issues
Synthetic Biology for Natural Products
share announcement

Synthetic Biology for Natural Products

A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Synthetic Biology and Systems Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 October 2022) | Viewed by 8494

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Jun Ni

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Interests: light-driven synthetic biology; lignin utilization; natural plant products
Prof. Dr. Shuangjun Lin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Interests: synthetic biology; biocatalysis; Streptomyces; natural products
Prof. Dr. Xudong Qu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Interests: synthetic biology; secondary metabolite biosynthesis; natural drugs

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Natural products are especially important targets because of their utility as medicines, flavors, fragrances, and colorants, but can be challenging to obtain due to their low content and structural complexity. Synthetic biology has enabled the tailor-made production of natural products by the fermentation of engineered microorganisms, but it requires much time, effort, and cost to make the strains industrially competitive. Advances in tools and strategies of omics, regulatory circuit rewiring, precise genome editing, in silico metabolic simulation, and high-throughput screening are facilitating the development of high-performance strains. Over the past decade, an increasing number of natural products have been produced and commercialized through applying synthetic biology. These successes represent a burgeoning bio-economy and will open up a new era for the biosynthesis of natural products. In this Special Issue, advances will be presented in the selection of host strains, metabolic pathway reconstruction, tolerance enhancement, and metabolic flux optimization. Reviews and original research articles are both welcome.

Prof. Dr. Jun Ni
Prof. Dr. Shuangjun Lin
Prof. Dr. Xudong Qu
Guest Edtitors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Life is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • synthetic biology
  • metabolic engineering
  • biosynthesis
  • natural products
  • genome editing
  • microbial fermentation
  • microbial cell factory
  • biocatalysis

Published Papers (3 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

11 pages, 1023 KiB  
Communication
Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Textile and Cardboard Waste as a Glucose Source for the Production of Limonene in Escherichia coli
by Žiga Zebec, Mojca Poberžnik and Aleksandra Lobnik
Life 2022, 12(9), 1423; https://doi.org/10.3390/life12091423 - 13 Sep 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1885
Abstract
Cellulose containing textiles (cotton) and cardboard/carton waste represent a large reservoir of untapped organic carbon. These wastes have enormous potential for use as carbon feedstock in industrial biotechnological processes. Essentially, cotton/cardboard (CC) waste is pure cellulose (with some additives) in the form of [...] Read more.
Cellulose containing textiles (cotton) and cardboard/carton waste represent a large reservoir of untapped organic carbon. These wastes have enormous potential for use as carbon feedstock in industrial biotechnological processes. Essentially, cotton/cardboard (CC) waste is pure cellulose (with some additives) in the form of polymerised glucose consisting of β-(1→4)-linked D-glucose subunits. One of the largest and most diverse classes of natural chemicals that can be produced from glucose are terpenes with a wide range of applications as flavours, fragrances, pharmaceuticals, biopesticides, and biofuels. Here we have investigated the bioconversion of CC waste into the exemplary terpene limonene as a proof of concept. Six different CC waste streams were enzymatically hydrolysed and used to produce limonene using the Escherichia coli (E. coli) microbial cell factory. The D-glucose content in the CC hydrolysate (glucose juice) was determined and then metabolised by E. coli via a manipulated heterogeneous biolipid synthesis pathway (the mevalonate pathway) to produce limonene. This study represents an important proof of concept for the production of terpenes from hydrolysed CC waste streams. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synthetic Biology for Natural Products)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 2873 KiB  
Article
The Synthesis and Assembly of a Truncated Cyanophage Genome and Its Expression in a Heterogenous Host
by Shujing Liu, Jia Feng, Tao Sun, Bonan Xu, Jiabao Zhang, Guorui Li, Jianting Zhou and Jianlan Jiang
Life 2022, 12(8), 1234; https://doi.org/10.3390/life12081234 - 15 Aug 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1893
Abstract
Cyanophages play an important role in regulating the dynamics of cyanobacteria communities in the hydrosphere, representing a promising biological control strategy for cyanobacterial blooms. Nevertheless, most cyanophages are host-specific, making it difficult to control blooming cyanobacteria via single or multiple cyanophages. In order [...] Read more.
Cyanophages play an important role in regulating the dynamics of cyanobacteria communities in the hydrosphere, representing a promising biological control strategy for cyanobacterial blooms. Nevertheless, most cyanophages are host-specific, making it difficult to control blooming cyanobacteria via single or multiple cyanophages. In order to address the issue, we explore the interaction between cyanophages and their heterologous hosts, with the aim of revealing the principles of designing and constructing an artificial cyanophage genome towards multiple cyanobacterial hosts. In the present study, we use synthetic biological approaches to assess the impact of introducing a fragment of cyanophage genome into a heterologous cyanobacterium under a variety of environmental conditions. Based on a natural cyanophage A-4L genome (41,750 bp), a truncated cyanophage genome Syn-A-4-8 is synthesized and assembled in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We found that a 351–15,930 bp area of the A-4L genome has a fragment that is lethal to Escherichia coli during the process of attempting to assemble the full-length A-4L genome. Syn-A-4-8 was successfully introduced into E. coli and then transferred into the model cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 (Syn7942) via conjugation. Although no significant phenotypes of Syn7942 carrying Syn-A-4-8 (LS-02) could be observed under normal conditions, its growth exhibited a prolonged lag phase compared to that of the control strain under 290-millimolar NaCl stress. Finally, the mechanisms of altered salt tolerance in LS-02 were revealed through comparative transcriptomics, and ORF25 and ORF26 on Syn-A-4-8 turned out to be the key genes causing the phenotype. Our research represents an important attempt in designing artificial cyanophages towards multiple hosts, and offers new future insights into the control of cyanobacterial blooms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synthetic Biology for Natural Products)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Review

Jump to: Research

16 pages, 2435 KiB  
Review
Light-Driven Synthetic Biology: Progress in Research and Industrialization of Cyanobacterial Cell Factory
by Chaofeng Li, Jiyang Zheng, Yushuang Wu, Xiaotong Wang, Hui Shao and Dong Yan
Life 2022, 12(10), 1537; https://doi.org/10.3390/life12101537 - 3 Oct 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3700
Abstract
Light-driven synthetic biology refers to an autotrophic microorganisms-based research platform that remodels microbial metabolism through synthetic biology and directly converts light energy into bio-based chemicals. This technology can help achieve the goal of carbon neutrality while promoting green production. Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic microorganisms [...] Read more.
Light-driven synthetic biology refers to an autotrophic microorganisms-based research platform that remodels microbial metabolism through synthetic biology and directly converts light energy into bio-based chemicals. This technology can help achieve the goal of carbon neutrality while promoting green production. Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic microorganisms that use light and CO2 for growth and production. They thus possess unique advantages as “autotrophic cell factories”. Various fuels and chemicals have been synthesized by cyanobacteria, indicating their important roles in research and industrial application. This review summarized the progresses and remaining challenges in light-driven cyanobacterial cell factory. The choice of chassis cells, strategies used in metabolic engineering, and the methods for high-value CO2 utilization will be discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synthetic Biology for Natural Products)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-3
Back to TopTop