Journal
ACS SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
Volume 11, Issue 7, Pages 2348-2360Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.2c000752348
Keywords
sustainable minimal metabolism; selectively open system; continuous-flow dialysis; ATP recycling; phospholipid headgroup synthesis; glycerol 3-phosphate
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Funding
- NWO Gravitation program Building a synthetic cell (BaSyC)
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The bottom-up construction of a self-reproducing cell is a challenge in synthetic biology. This study focuses on sustainable phospholipid biosynthesis and reconstitutes an enzymatic network for glycerol 3-phosphate synthesis. The researchers also design a dynamic dialysis setup to control the external medium and achieve sustainable synthesis.
The bottom-up construction of an autonomously growing, self -reproducing cell represents a great challenge for synthetic biology. Synthetic cellular systems are envisioned as out-of-equilibrium enzymatic networks encompassed by a selectively open phospholipid bilayer allowing for protein -mediated communication; internal metabolite recycling is another key aspect of a sustainable metabolism. Importantly, gaining tight control over the external medium is essential to avoid thermodynamic equilibrium due to nutrient depletion or waste buildup in a closed compartment (e.g., a test tube). Implementing a sustainable strategy for phospholipid biosynthesis is key to expanding the cellular boundaries. However, phospholipid biosynthesis is currently limited by substrate availability, e.g., of glycerol 3-phosphate, the essential core of phospholipid headgroups. Here, we reconstitute an enzymatic network for sustainable glycerol 3-phosphate synthesis inside large unilamellar vesicles. We exploit the Escherichia coli glycerol kinase GlpK to synthesize glycerol 3-phosphate from externally supplied glycerol. We fuel phospholipid headgroup formation by sustainable L-arginine breakdown. In addition, we design and characterize a dynamic dialysis setup optimized for synthetic cells, which is used to control the external medium composition and to achieve sustainable glycerol 3-phosphate synthesis.
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