Nair (Synthetic Biology & Systems Bioengineering) Lab @Tufts
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What a marathon - finally published in '26 (numerology?) after 2y of rejections/revisions! I'm happy to showcase the work completed by ToddChappell & JessicaLee that TrevorNicks @biotechalchemist.bsky.social started before #CaravelBio. #spores #surfacedisplay @tufts.edu
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
This allowed us to undertake multiple rounds of multiplex genome editing to identify antagonism, epistasis, and synergy between different spore coat proteins for display applications.
The profound stability of bacterial spores makes them a promising platform for biotechnological applications like biocatalysis, bioremediation, drug delivery, etc. However, though the Bacillus subtilis spore is composed of >40 types of proteins, only ∼12 have been explored as fusion carriers for protein display. Here, we assessed the suitability of 33 spore proteins (SPs) as enzyme display carriers by direct allele tagging at native genomic loci. Of the 33 SPs investigated, 26 formed functional fusions with β-glucuronidase (GUS)─a ∼272 kDa homotetramer. This almost triples the number of SPs assessed for enzyme display and doubles the number of functional fusions documented in the literature. We quantitatively assessed 1) SP promoter activation dynamics, 2) GUS activity on spores, 3) surface availability, and 4) protection from thermal and proteolytic degradation. Multicopy expression and pairwise coexpression of the most promising SP-GUS fusions highlighted the complexity of spore structure/assembly and the difficulty in predicting compatibility between different SP fusions. We also assessed the suitability of engineered spores to degrade PET (polyethylene terephthalate) films and found that surface-exposed SPs were most effective. Beyond the broad survey, a key outcome of our work was the identification of SscA (small spore coat assembly protein A) as an effective spore display carrier. SscA supported enzyme activity at least 4-fold higher than any other SP, including the well-established anchor, CotY. We attribute this to its promoter, which demonstrated early and sustained activation relative to other SPs and its small size (∼3 kDa), which likely minimally interferes with enzyme folding, oligomerization, and activity. Labeling and genetic studies, its hydrophobic nature, and low surface availability suggest that SscA assembles within the inner spore coat, which makes it stabilizing and suitable for many biocatalytic applications. Overall, this work serves as a knowledge base to advance the biotechnological utility of B. subtilis spores.
pubs.acs.org
A current limitation of B. subtilis for spore display is its low transformability. By engineering and comparing several inducible systems and optimizing the protocol, we increase competence 2800-fold, reaching ≤20% co-transformation frequencies.
🆕New pre-print!🆕 This year seems to be about tying up stories. This time it's by former post-doc Debika Choudhury, who put together a mini story.
Tufts University, Tufts University School of Engineering
doi.org/10.64898/202...
We have a brand-new 📰 manuscript 📰 out, led by @tufts.edu #GSBS grad student Bec Condruti, in collaboration with undergrad Sam Littman, and Kcat Enzymatic's Likith M, Jeevan K, & Pravin Kumar!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
🆕New🆕 manuscript led by Jessica Lee @tufts.edu! This work continues our efforts to engineer bacterial #spores through enhanced #GenomeEditing. Thanks to #NSF & @darpa.mil for support.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
The discovery was enabled by a rationally engineered disulfide staple to restrict a loop's movement. Thanks to enzyme modeling work by colleagues Kcat, we found that the disulfide alters active site dynamics, changing substrate- and intermediate- binding. Support by #NSF + #NIH
I'm thankful that society journals, @microbiologysociety.org, @femsmicro.org, & @amiposts.bsky.social, are experimenting with new publication models to encourage shorter narratives like this.
We've been interested in phenylalanine ammonia-lyase #PAL since it's the only therapeutic for classical #PKU #phenylketonuria. In exploring the role of unstructured loops on this enzyme, we found that the active-site lid loop not only controls catalysis but also substrate specificity!
Nair (Synthetic Biology & Systems Bioengineering) Lab @Tufts
Nair (Synthetic Biology & Systems Bioengineering) Lab @Tufts