Timothy A. Mitsky

Metabolic engineering of Arabidopsis and Brassica for poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) copolymer production

Poly(hydroxyalkanoates) are natural polymers with thermoplastic properties. One polymer of this class with commercial applicability, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) can be produced by bacterial fermentation, but the process is not economically competitive with polymer production from petrochemicals. Poly(hydroxyalkanoate) production in green plants promises much lower costs, but producing copolymer with the appropriate monomer composition is problematic. In this study, we have engineered Arabidopsis and Brassica to produce PHBV in leaves and seeds, respectively, by redirecting the metabolic flow of intermediates from fatty acid and amino acid biosynthesis. We present a pathway for the biosynthesis of PHBV in plant plastids, and also report copolymer production, metabolic intermediate analyses, and pathway dynamics.

Isolation and Characterization of Homogentisate Phytyltransferase Genes from Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 and Arabidopsis

Tocopherols, synthesized by photosynthetic organisms, are micronutrients with antioxidant properties that play important roles in animal and human nutrition. Because of these health benefits, there is considerable interest in identifying the genes involved in tocopherol biosynthesis to allow transgenic alteration of both tocopherol levels and composition in agricultural crops. Tocopherols are generated from the condensation of phytyldiphosphate and homogentisic acid (HGA), followed by cyclization and methylation reactions. Homogentisate phytyltransferase (HPT) performs the first committed step in this pathway, the phytylation of HGA. In this study, bioinformatics techniques were used to identify candidate genes,slr1736 and HPT1, that encode HPT fromSynechocystis sp. PCC 6803 and Arabidopsis, respectively. These two genes encode putative membrane-bound proteins, and contain amino acid residues highly conserved with other prenyltransferases of the aromatic type. A Synechocystissp. PCC 6803 slr1736 null mutant obtained by insertional inactivation did not accumulate tocopherols, and was rescued by the Arabidopsis HPT1 ortholog. The membrane fraction of wild-type Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 was capable of catalyzing the phytylation of HGA, whereas the membrane fraction from the slr1736 null mutant was not. The microsomal membrane fraction of baculovirus-infected insect cells expressing the Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803slr1736 were also able to perform the phytylation reaction, verifying HPT activity of the protein encoded by this gene. In addition, evidence that antisense expression of HPT1in Arabidopsis resulted in reduced seed tocopherol levels, whereas seed-specific sense expression resulted in increased seed tocopherol levels, is presented.

Poly(β-hydroxybutyrate) production in oilseed leukoplasts of brassica napus

Abstract. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) comprise a class of biodegradable polymers which offer an environmentally sustainable alternative to petroleum-based plastics. Production of PHAs in plants is attractive since current fermentation technology is prohibitively expensive. The PHA homopolymer poly(β-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) has previously been produced in leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana (Nawrath et al., 1994, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 91: 12760–12764). However, Brassica napus oilseed may provide a better system for PHB production because acetyl-CoA, the substrate required in the first step of PHB biosynthesis, is prevalent during fatty acid biosynthesis. Three enzymatic activities are needed to synthesize PHB: a β-ketothiolase, an acetoacetyl-CoA reductase and a PHB synthase. Genes from the bacterium Ralstonia eutropha encoding these enzymes were independently engineered behind the seed-specific Lesquerella fendleri oleate 12-hydroxylase promoter in a modular fashion. The gene cassettes were sequentially transferred into a single, multi-gene vector which was used to transform B. napus. Poly(β-hydroxybutyrate) accumulated in leukoplasts to levels as high as 7.7% fresh seed weight of mature seeds. Electron-microscopy analyses indicated that leukoplasts from these plants were distorted, yet intact, and appeared to expand in response to polymer accumulation.

PHA production, from bacteria to plants.

The genes encoding the polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biosynthetic pathway in Ralstonia eutropha (3-ketothiolase, phaA or bktB; acetoacetyl-CoA reductase, phaB; and PHA synthase, phaC) were engineered for plant plastid targeting and expressed using leaf (e35S) or seed-specific (7s or lesquerella hydroxylase) promoters in Arabidopsis and Brassica. PHA yields in homozygous transformants were 12-13% of the dry mass in homozygous Arabidopsis plants and approximately 7% of the seed weight in seeds from heterozygous canola plants. When a threonine deaminase was expressed in addition to bktB, phaB and phaC, a copolyester of 3-hydroxybutyrate and 3-hydroxyvalerate was produced in both Arabidopsis and Brassica.

Application of a Propionyl Coenzyme A Synthetase for Poly(3-Hydroxypropionate-co-3-Hydroxybutyrate) Accumulation in Recombinant Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT The genetic operon for propionic acid degradation inSalmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium contains an open reading frame designated prpE which encodes a propionyl coenzyme A (propionyl-CoA) synthetase (A. R. Horswill and J. C. Escalante-Semerena, Microbiology 145:1381–1388, 1999). In this paper we report the cloning of prpE by PCR, its overexpression in Escherichia coli, and the substrate specificity of the enzyme. When propionate was utilized as the substrate for PrpE, a Km of 50 μM and a specific activity of 120 μmol · min−1 · mg−1 were found at the saturating substrate concentration. PrpE also activated acetate, 3-hydroxypropionate (3HP), and butyrate to their corresponding coenzyme A esters but did so much less efficiently than propionate. When prpE was coexpressed with the polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biosynthetic genes from Ralstonia eutropha in recombinant E. coli, a PHA copolymer containing 3HP units accumulated when 3HP was supplied with the growth medium. To compare the utility of acyl-CoA synthetases to that of an acyl-CoA transferase for PHA production, PHA-producing recombinant strains were constructed to coexpress the PHA biosynthetic genes with prpE, with acoE (an acetyl-CoA synthetase gene from R. eutropha [H. Priefert and A. Steinbüchel, J. Bacteriol. 174:6590–6599, 1992]), or with orfZ (an acetyl-CoA:4-hydroxybutyrate-CoA transferase gene from Clostridium propionicum [H. E. Valentin, S. Reiser, and K. J. Gruys, Biotechnol. Bioeng. 67:291–299, 2000]). Of the three enzymes, PrpE and OrfZ enabled similar levels of 3HP incorporation into PHA, whereas AcoE was significantly less effective in this capacity.

Characterization and cloning of an (R)-specific trans-2,3-enoylacyl-CoA hydratase from Rhodospirillum rubrum and use of this enzyme for PHA production in Escherichia coli

Abstract An (R)-trans-2,3-enoylacyl-CoA hydratase was purified to near-homogeneity from Rhodospirillum rubrum. Protein sequencing of enriched protein fractions allowed the construction of a degenerate oligonucleotide. The gene encoding the (R)-specific hydratase activity was cloned following three rounds of colony hybridization using the oligonucleotide, and overexpression of the gene in E. coli led to the purification of the enzyme to homogeneity. The purified enzyme used crotonyl-CoA, trans-2,3-pentenoyl-CoA, and trans-2,3-hexenoyl-CoA with approximately equal specificity as substrates in the hydration reaction. However, no activity was observed using trans-2,3-octenoyl-CoA as a substrate, but this compound did partially inhibit crotonyl-CoA hydration. Based on the nucleotide sequence, the protein has a monomeric molecular weight of 15.4 kDa and is a homotetramer in its native form as determined by gel filtration chromatography and native PAGE. The hydratase was expressed together with the PHA synthase from Thiocapsa pfennigii in E. coli strain DH5α. Growth of these strains on oleic acid resulted in the production of the terpolyester poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate).

Sequence of PHA synthase gene from two strains of Rhodospirillum rubrum and in vivo substrate specificity of four PHA synthases across two heterologous expression systems.

Abstract A 3.0-kb genomic fragment has been isolated from Rhodospirillum rubrum (ATCC 25903) that contains an open reading frame (ORF) with strong homology to other known polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthase genes. This ORF has lower homology to the R. rubrum strain Ha PHA synthase than would be expected within the same species. We have conducted a series of heterologous expression studies evaluating the in vivo substrate specificity of PHA synthase genes from Rhodobacter sphaeroides, Ralstonia eutropha (formerly Alcaligenes eutrophus), Thiocystis violacea, and Nocardia corrallina, within the PHA-synthase-negative hosts, Ralstonia eutropha DSM541 and Pseudomonas putida GpP104. The N. corrallina PHA synthase incorporated the highest percentage of C5 monomers in the polymer when fermented in medium supplemented with 0.1% heptanoate as the sole carbon source. When the T. violacea and R. sphaeroides were expressed in the PHA-negative host DSM541, a greater percentage of C5 monomer was observed in the polymer as compared to the expression of the PHA synthase of R. eutropha, when the transconjugants were fermented in medium supplemented with 0.4% propionate. Evaluation for preference of medium-chain-length monomers demonstrated the flexibility of the N. corrallina, T. violacea, and R. eutropha synthase genes to polymerize a copolyester composed of short- and medium-chain-length monomers when the respective transconjugants were fermented in medium supplemented with 0.5% octanoate. These studies demonstrate that the PHA synthase from N. corrallina, T. violacea, and R. eutropha are able to polymerize a copolyester composed of short- and medium-chain-length monomers, while the PHA synthase from R. sphaeroides lacks this ability and only produces a short-chain-length polymer. These observations suggest that the composition of the PHA from the PHA-producing organisms does not necessarily reflect the inherent specificity of the PHA synthase.