Heterologous production of phenazine-1-carboxylic acid by Corynebacterium glutamicum

• Grant number: 23/09085-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date until: November 01, 2023
• End date until: February 29, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Chemical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Adilson José da Silva
• Grantee: Vitor Leonel Pantaleão
• Supervisor: Mattheos Koffas
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Rensselaers Polytechnic Institute, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/07833-7 - Evaluation of potential genetic targets for optimizing phenazine production in E. coli, BP.IC

Abstract

Phenazines are a class of microbial secondary metabolites whose application covers diverse areas such as the production of biopesticides, construction of biosensors, drug development, among others. These molecules are formed by nitrogenous aromatic rings, and their biosynthesis occurs naturally in some species of Pseudomonas and Streptomyces, among others. In recent years, we have succeeded in the heterologous production of these molecules in Escherichia coli, and in this project we aim to evaluate the possibility of extending their production to a new chassis: the bacterium Corynebacterium glutamicum. C. glutamicum has been used to produce several aromatic compounds, and here we will evaluate its ability to produce phenazines for the first time. To this end, the phz operon from P. aeruginosa, which encodes the enzymes required for the conversion of chorismate to phenazine-1-carboxylic acid (PCA), will be cloned and C. glutamicum cells will be transformed with the constructed plasmid. The recombinant strain will be grown in shake flasks and the PCA production will be analyzed by HPLC. At the end of the project, we hope to obtain C. glutamicum cells capable of producing this phenazine, thus extending the scenario of heterologous production of this class of biomolecules. (AU)