In-vivo Continuous Directed Evolution System and Application Thereof
20230044600 · 2023-02-09
Inventors
Cpc classification
C12N15/64
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
C12N15/70
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
C12N15/1058
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
C12N15/00
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
International classification
C12N15/10
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
Abstract
The disclosure discloses an in-vivo continuous directed evolution system and application thereof, and belongs to the fields of gene engineering and enzyme engineering. The system includes Escherichia coli host bacteria carrying a random mutation module mutagenesis plasmid, a programmed death module toxin-antitoxin system and a target gene expression module target plasmid. The modules are coupled with one another, and target genes are subjected to multiple rounds of continuous mutation by virtue of the random mutation module mutagenesis plasmid in the system, so that the mutation rate of the target genes is further increased, and ultimately, efficient evolution and screening of the target genes in the host bacteria are realized. According to the system, mutations are accurately positioned on the target genes, random mutations in non-target gene regions are reduced, and the system has good practical value and can be applied to directed evolution of various different functional proteins.
Claims
1. A continuous directed evolution system, comprising a random mutation module mutagenesis plasmid, a programmed death module toxin-antitoxin system and a target gene expression module target plasmid, wherein the random mutation module mutagenesis plasmid comprises mutagenic genes and helper genes, the target gene expression module target plasmid comprises target genes and helper gene recognition or binding elements, and the programmed death module toxin-antitoxin system comprises toxin protein encoding genes and antitoxic protein encoding genes.
2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the mutagenic genes on the random mutation module mutagenesis plasmid comprise one or more of an encoding gene PolA of a low-fidelity DNA polymerase I mutant, an encoding gene AID of a cytosine deaminase, an encoding gene APOBEC of a cytosine deaminase and an encoding gene TadA of an adenine deaminase.
3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the helper genes comprise one or more of an encoding gene of a T7 RNA polymerase, an encoding gene of a nCas9 lacking the activity for cutting a non-complementary strand and an encoding gene of a dCas9 only with the DNA binding capacity.
4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the target genes are encoding genes and/or non-encoding genes of one or more proteins.
5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the target genes comprise one or more of an encoding gene of a T7 RNA polymerase, an antibiotic resistance gene, an encoding gene for decomposing enzymes in a metabolic pathway, an encoding gene for synthesizing the enzymes in the metabolic pathway, an encoding gene of DNA binding proteins, an encoding gene of a nuclease, an encoding gene of a carbohydrase and an encoding gene of a protease.
6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the helper gene recognition or binding elements comprise a tac promoter, a pac promoter, an Sp6 promoter, an lac promoter, a T7 promoter, a pBAD promoter, a trc promoter, an npr promoter and sgRNA.
7. The system according to claim 1, wherein promoters for inducing the toxin protein encoding genes to express are inducible promoters and comprise, but are not limited to, a pBAD operating system, an Lac operating system, a Tac operating system and a Tet operating system, the antitoxic protein encoding genes are recognized and expressed after being subjected to directed evolution by the target genes, and the toxin-antitoxin system further comprises proteins assisting in recognition or binding according to requirements of different target proteins.
8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the toxin protein encoding genes comprise YdfD capable of causing cell rupture, PezT, SezT and zeta toxin capable of repressing cytomembrane formation, FicT and CcdB capable of inhibiting DNA replication and TacT capable of inhibiting translation, and the antitoxic protein encoding genes are selected from DicB/SulA, PezA, SezA, epsilon antitoxin, FicA, CcdA and TacA genes corresponding to toxic proteins.
9. The system according to claim 7, wherein the proteins assisting in recognition or binding comprise one or more of activated and inhibited transcription factors lacI, psiR, Lrp, LysG, PcaR, CadR, PadR, NanR, PcaU, BmoR, TgtR, EmrR, FdeR, FrmR, DmpR, BenR, FadR, SoxR, Alks and PobR.
10. The system according to claim 1, wherein expression vectors of the random mutation module mutagenesis plasmid, the target gene expression module target plasmid and the programmed death module toxin-antitoxin system comprise pET series, or pSB1C3, or pRSFDuet or pCDFDuet plasmids.
11. A method of continuous directed evolution of genes, comprising transforming the continuous directed evolution system according to claim 1 to microbial cells, and the microbial cells comprises Escherichia coli.
12. The method according to claim 12, comprising inducing the microbial cells by virtue of inducers, inducing the random mutation module mutagenesis plasmid to express mutagenic proteins, inducing the target gene expression module target plasmid to express target proteins, inducing the programmed death module toxin-antitoxin system to express proteins assisting in recognition or binding and toxin proteins, and adding corresponding substrates according to different target proteins.
13. The method according to claim 12, comprising transforming the induced microbial cells and continuously culturing in a culture medium containing inducers.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES
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[0038]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0039] The disclosure may be further described in details with reference to embodiments and drawings.
[0040] As shown in
[0041] Those skilled in the art should understand that the disclosure is not limited to examples using T7 RNAp encoding genes as directed evolution, and any other similar technical solution is suitable for the disclosure. According to different target genes such as a carbohydrase gene, a cutinase gene, an esterase gene, a fluorescent protein gene, a nuclease gene and the like, the functions of the genes can be coupled with the expression of the antitoxic proteins in the programmed death module TAS by different principles.
[0042] The disclosure will list several examples of the target genes which can be applied to continuous directed evolution. It should be clear that a plurality of target genes can be selected in the disclosure and are not limited to the following types: (1) DNA binding proteins: for example, the evolution of antitoxic protein transcription factors is coupled with the expression of the antitoxic proteins; (2) proteins acting on small molecules: for example, reaction products of part of carbohydrase, cutinase or other enzymes involved in metabolite or non-metabolite biosynthesis are coupled with the expression of the antitoxic proteins; (3) fluorescent proteins: for example, the fluorescent proteins are coupled with the expression of the antitoxic proteins by using photosensitive promoters; and (4) nuclease such as Cas9: the functions of the Cas9 are coupled with the expression of the antitoxic proteins through corresponding gene control.
[0043] It should be noted that the programmed death module TAS in
[0044] In one example of the disclosure, mutagenic proteins responsible for mutations are activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID). The AID can act on single-stranded DNA, so that cytosine is deaminated and transformed into uracil and is ultimately transformed into thymine. T7 RNAp and AID are subjected to fusion expression and are responsible for enabling the AID to be bound with the downstream of the T7 promoter on the target gene expression module TP in a targeted manner, so that the mutagenic proteins have targeting on target genes. Except for the example, other mutagenic proteins with targeting, mutagenic protein mutants or mutagenic fusion proteins can also be used as the spontaneous random mutation module MP in the disclosure. For example (but not limited to), DNA polymerase Pol I (D355A/E357A or D424A/I709N/A759R) as a low-fidelity DNA polymerase mutant can specifically recognize plasmids with ColE1 Ori and enables the nucleotide sequence with a certain length after the transcription start site to mutate.
[0045] According to a directed evolution method provided by the disclosure, the random mutation module MP in the system expresses the mutagenic proteins under the action of inducers and can recognize and mediate the target genes in the target gene expression module TP to generate random mutations. After mutations of the target genes, the inducers for inducing the toxin proteins to express are added to the system, so that the system starts directed screening. Successfully evolved target protein mutants can mediate the expression of the antitoxic proteins on the programmed death module TAS, so that the toxin proteins cannot act on host cells, and ultimately, only the host cells containing successfully evolved target genes can survive.
[0046] The feasibility of the disclosure is described through the following examples. It should be noted that the following examples are only exemplary, and are only intended to illustrate the feasibility of the disclosure and not intended to limit the protection scope of the disclosure.
[0047] Sources of plasmids and strains involved in the following examples are as follows:
[0048] pET20b, pRSFDuet and pCDFDuet plasmids are purchased from the TaKaRa (Dalian) Bioengineering Co., Ltd, and E. coli BL21 (DE3) is preserved by our laboratory.
[0049] Reagents and culture media involved in the following examples are as follows:
[0050] PrimeSTAR HS DNA polymerase, DNA Marker and Dpn I restriction enzymes involved in the following examples are purchased from the TaKaRa (Dalian) Bioengineering Co., Ltd.
[0051] LB culture medium: The LB culture medium includes 0.5% (W/V) yeast extract powder, 1% (W/V) tryptone and 1% (W/V) sodium chloride, and 2% (W/V) agar powder is added to obtain the LB solid culture medium.
[0052] TB culture medium: The TB culture medium includes 1.2% (W/V) of tryptone, 2.4% (W/V) of yeast extract powder, 0.4% (V/V) of glycerol and a phosphate buffer solution (17 mM KH.sub.2PO.sub.4 and 72 mM K.sub.2HPO.sub.4).
Example 1: Construction of Random Spontaneous Mutation Module MP
[0053] The specific steps were as follows:
[0054] An AID-T7 RNAp mediated random spontaneous mutation module MP was taken for example. The fusion protein encoded AID-T7 RNAp (T3) (the amino acid sequence is shown in SEQ ID NO: 2) with the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 was synthesized. T7 RNAp (T3) represented a T3 type mutant of T7 RNAp. In an enzyme cutting linkage manner, the AID-T7 RNAp (T3) was linked to an E. coli expression vector pCDFDuet to construct a recombinant vector pCDFDuet-pT7-AID-T7 RNAp (T3). A linkage product was transformed into E. coli JM109. The transformation product was spread on an LB solid culture medium (containing streptomycin with the final concentration of 50 μg.Math.mL.sup.−1). After inverted culture at 37° C. for 10-12 h, transformants on a plate were picked to be transferred to a LB liquid culture medium (containing streptomycin with the final concentration of 50 μg.Math.mL.sup.−1). After culture at 37° C. and 200 rpm for 12-14 h, plasmids were extracted for sequencing validation as one of the random mutation module MP and named pCDFuet-1-AID-T7 RNAp (T3) (as shown in
Example 2: Construction of Programmed Death Module TAS
[0055] The specific steps were as follows:
[0056] YdfD/SulA of a toxin protein-antitoxic protein system (TAS) was selected. The sequence thereof was synthesized. The amino acid sequences were shown in SEQ ID NO: 3 and SEQ ID NO: 4. The nucleotide sequences thereof were respectively introduced into two multiple cloning sites of pRSFDuet. The T7 promoter expressing toxin proteins in vectors was replaced with the pBAD operating system by using a MEGAWHOP cloning method. A PCR product was transformed into E. coli JM109 after being subjected to Dpn I digestion. The transformation product was spread on a LB solid culture medium (containing kanamycin with the final concentration of 50 μg.Math.mL.sup.−1). After inverted culture at 37° C. for 10-12 h, transformants on a plate were picked to be transferred to a LB liquid culture medium (containing kanamycin with the final concentration of 50 μg.Math.mL.sup.−1). After culture at 37° C. and 200 rpm for 12-14 h, plasmids were extracted and were sent to a sequencing company to be sequenced. The plasmids with correct sequencing results were recombinant vectors pRSFDuet-pT7-antitoxin-araC-pBAD-toxin.
Example 3: Identification of Programmed Death Module TAS in E. coli
[0057] The specific steps were as follows:
[0058] A toxin protein-antitoxic protein expression vector pRSFDuet-pT7-antitoxin-araC-pBAD-toxin was transformed into E. coli BL21 (DE3) and was transferred to a LB culture medium to induce fermentation. Firstly, glycerol bacteria preserved in a refrigerator of −80° C. were transferred to 10 mL of a LB culture medium (containing kanamycin with the final concentration of 50 μg.Math.mL.sup.−1) to be subjected to overnight culture at 37° C. and 200 rpm. A seed solution was transferred to 50 mL of a LB fermentation broth (containing kanamycin with the final concentration of 50 μg.Math.mL.sup.−1) in a proportion of 1:20, and inducers IPTG and L-ara were added to induce fermentation after 1.5 h at 37° C. and 200 rpm (in addition, a group only with IPTG, a group only with L-ara and a group without inducers were used as control groups). After the inducers were added, the growth situation of recombinant bacteria was determined. Results are shown in
[0059] After induction for 6 h, bacterial cells were cleaned with normal saline and are resuspended. A PI/SYTO9 nucleic acid dye was added to a resuspension solution to dye. The life-or-death situation of the recombinant bacteria was observed and identified by using a confocal laser scanning microscope. Results are shown in
[0060] The experiments jointly proved that the expression of the toxic proteins and the antitoxic proteins in the programmed death module TAS in E. coli was controlled by the inducers IPTG and L-ara and the promoters.
[0061] By using the identification method of the example 3, the T7 promoters expressing the antitoxic proteins are mutated to T7 (R13) promoters by means of point mutation (the sequence of the T7 (R13) promoters refers to the article Meyer A J, Ellefson J W, Ellington A D. Directed Evolution of a Panel of Orthogonal T7 RNA Polymerase Variants for in Vivo or in Vitro Synthetic Circuitry [J]. ACS Synthetic Biology, 2015, 4(10).: Table 1 “P.sub.CGTA”) so as to carry out subsequent implementation including target gene directed evolution.
Example 4: Construction of Target Gene Expression Module TP in E. coli
[0062] The specific steps were as follows:
[0063] An E. coli BL21 (DE3) genome was used as a template, primers T7RNApRF-F and T7RNApRF-R were adopted for amplification to obtain T7 RNAp encoding genes as target genes, and the target genes were linked to E. coli expression vectors pET20b by using a MEGAWHOP cloning method. The recombinant expression vectors pET20b containing the T7 RNAp encoding genes were transformed into E. coli JM109 after being subjected to Dpn I digestion. The transformation product was spread on a LB solid culture medium (containing ampicillin with the final concentration of 100 μg.Math.mL.sup.−1). After inverted culture at 37° C. for 10-12 h, transformants on a plate were picked to be transferred to a LB liquid culture medium (containing ampicillin with the final concentration of 100 μg.Math.mL.sup.−1). After culture at 37° C. and 200 rpm for 12-14 h, plasmids were extracted for sequencing validation. The plasmids with correct sequencing results were recombinant vectors pET20b-T7 RNAp (as shown in
TABLE-US-00001 Primer T7RNApRF-F: (SEQ ID NO 54) CTTTAAGAAGGAGATATACATATGAACACGATTAACATCGC; Primer T7RNApRF-R: (SEQ ID NO: 55) TGGTGGTGGTGGTGCTCGAGTTACGCGAACGCGAAGTCC.
Example 5: Assembly and Characterization of All Modules in E. coli
[0064] The specific steps were as follows:
[0065] 1) The random spontaneous mutation module MP, the target gene expression module TP and the programmed death module TAS were transferred to E. coli BL21 (DE3) in sequence to be subjected to overnight culture at 37° C. and 200 rpm. A seed solution was transferred to 50 mL of a TB fermentation broth in a proportion of 1:20. Inducers IPTG and L-ara (with the final concentrations of 0.4 mM and 0.3% respectively) were added to continuously induce fermentation after 1.5 h at 37° C. and 200 rpm. After an induced bacteria solution was diluted to a certain times, a plate was spread (containing 0.3% L-ara), and colony forming units were calculated (in addition, a group without L-ara was used as a control group). Results are shown in
[0066] 2) The random spontaneous mutation module MP, the target gene expression module TP and the programmed death module TAS were transferred to E. coli BL21 (DE3) in sequence to be subjected to overnight culture at 37° C. and 200 rpm. A seed solution was transferred to 50 mL of a TB fermentation broth in a proportion of 1:20. Inducer IPTG (with the final concentration of 0.4 mM) was added to continuously induce fermentation after 1.5 h at 37° C. and 200 rpm. The inducer L-ara (with the final concentration of 0.3%) was added after fermentation for 2-4 h. After an induced bacteria solution was diluted to a certain times, a plate was spread (containing 0.3% L-ara), the colony forming units were calculated (in addition, a group without L-ara was used as a control group). Results are shown in
Comparative Example 1
[0067] When the target gene expression module TP did not contain the target gene T7 RNAp, inducers were added to the recombinant bacteria to be subjected to continuous passage culture, then the bacteria solution was spread on a plate containing L-ara, and after overnight culture at 37° C., no colony grew.
Comparative Example 2
[0068] When the random spontaneous mutation MP did not contain the mutagenic gene AID-T7 RNAp (T3), inducers were added to the recombinant bacteria to be subjected to continuous passage culture, then the bacteria solution was spread on a plate containing L-ara, and after overnight culture at 37° C., no colony grew.
Comparative Example 3
[0069] When the target gene expression module TP did not contain a helper gene recognized or bound sequence, inducers were added to the recombinant bacteria to be subjected to continuous passage culture, then the bacteria solution was spread on a plate containing L-ara, and after overnight culture at 37° C., no colony grew.
[0070] The disclosure is illustrated through the examples that T7 RNAp recognizing the T7 promoters is evolved into a T7 RNAp mutant T7 RNAp (R13) recognizing the mutant type of the T7 (R13) promoters. T7 RNAp genes in TP are replaced with other target genes (such as carbohydrase genes, cutinase genes, nuclease genes, fluorescent protein genes and the like). The expression of antitoxin protein genes in TAS plasmids and the modification mode after expression are correspondingly adjusted, so that the expression of antitoxin proteins is coupled with the biological activity of new target genes on the TP, and the new target genes can be subjected to directed evolution by using the system. In addition, the replacement and modification of mutagenic protein encoding genes in the random mutation module MP is also included in the scope of the description of the disclosure.
Example 6: Construction of In-Vivo Continuous Evolution System of D-psicose 3-epimerase (DPE)
[0071] Promoter-F-CTTACATTAATTGCGTTGCGCCCGCTTCTAGAGGAGCTGTTGAC (SEQ ID NO: 56) and promoter-R-GATATTTTTGCCGATCCCCATTGATCTTTTCTCCTCTTTTCCTCC (SEQ ID NO: 57) were used as upstream and downstream primers. pET20b-psir-ppsiA was used as a template. PCR was used for amplifying a transcription factor-promoter psir-ppsiA gene segment (the nucleotide sequence is shown in SEQ ID NO: 5). A PCR product was used as a Mega primer after being purified. The pRSFDuet-pT7-antitoxin-araC-pBAD-toxin in Example 2 was used as a template. Transcription factor-promoter psir-ppsiA was constructed to the pRSFDuet-pT7-antitoxin-araC-pBAD-toxin through MEGAWHOP to obtain a recombinant plasmid pRSFDuet-pT7-psir-ppsiA-antitoxin-araC-pBAD-toxin as the programmed death module TAS.
[0072] DPE-F-TAAGAAGGAGATATACATCGAGGATGAAACATGGCATCTATT (SEQ ID NO: 58) and DPE-R-CCTGGGCATGCCGCTTCAGTGGTGGTGGTGGTGGTG (SEQ ID NO: 59) were used as primers. pET20b-dpe was used as a template. The PCR amplification was used for obtaining encoding genes of DPE as target genes (the nucleotide sequence is shown in SEQ ID NO.NO: 6). The recombinant plasmid pET20b-pT7 (T3)-T7 RNAp obtained in Example 4 was used as a template. T7 RNAp was replaced with DPE by using a MEGAWHOP cloning method. A plasmid pET20b(+)-pT7(T3)-dpe containing the target genes of DPE was obtained as the target gene expression module TP.
[0073] pCDFuet-1-AID-T7 RNAp (T3) in Example 1 was used as a mutation plasmid MP. The MP, the TP and the TAS were co-transformed into host cells E. coli BL21 (DE3) to obtain recombinant bacteria as the in-vivo continuous evolution system of DPE.
Example 7: In-Vivo Continuous Evolution Screening of DPEase
[0074] The recombinant bacteria obtained in Example 6 are inoculated into a shake flask containing 10 mL of a LB culture medium (containing 50 μg/mL Amp, 25 μg/mL Sm and 25 μg/mL Kana) and was cultured at 37° C. and 200 r/min for 8-10 h to obtain a seed solution. The seed solution was transferred to 20 mL of a TB culture medium (containing 50 μg/mL Amp, 25 μg/mL Sm and 25 μg/mL Kana) according to an inoculum size of 10% (v/v). After culture at 37° C. and 200 r/min for 1 h, an inducer isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactoside (IPTG) with the final concentration of 0.4 mmol/L was added. After culture at 25° C. and 200 r/min for 12 h, a culture solution was obtained. The culture solution was transferred to 20 mL of a new TB culture medium according to an inoculum size of 10% (v/v). The process lasts for a total of 8 rounds of induced fermentation. From the beginning of the 6.sup.th round, L-ara with the final concentration of 3 mg/mL was added in the induction process to induce the expression of toxin proteins, and meanwhile, 0.5M D-fructose was added as a DPE substrate.
[0075] The culture solution with accumulation of mutations was inoculated to 50 mL of a 0.5 M D-fructose containing LB culture medium (containing 50 μg/mL Amp, 25 μg/mL Sm and 25 μg/mL Kana) according to an inoculum size of 5% (v/v). After culture at 37° C. and 200 r/min for 1 h, the inducers 0.4 mmol/L IPTG and 3 mg/mL L-ara were added. After culture at 25° C. and 200 r/min for 5.5 h, 1 ml of the uniformly mixed bacteria solution was taken and washed with 1 mL of sterile PBS and was centrifuged at 4° C. and 8000 r/min for 1 min, then supernate was removed, the bacteria solution was resuspended in 1 mL of PBS, and a bacterial suspension was diluted to a certain gradient with PBS. The bacteria solution diluted to a certain gradient was spread on an LB agar plate (containing 50 μg/mL Amp, 25 μg/mL Sm, 25 μg/mL Kana, 0.5 M D-fructose, 0.4 mmol/L IPTG and 3 mg/mL L-ara, and after culture at 37° C. for 12 h, a single clone of a mutant was obtained. After sequencing and shake flask validation, the mutant was determined as a mutant with obviously increased soluble expression.
[0076] Although the disclosure has been disclosed above with preferred examples, it is not intended to limit the disclosure. Those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure, and therefore, the protection scope of the disclosure should be defined by the claims.