Acidithiobacillus ferridurans JAGS is a newly isolated acidophile from an acid mine drainage (AMD). The genome of isolate JAGS was sequenced and compared with eight other published genomes of Acidithiobacillus. The pairwise mutation distance (Mash) and average nucleotide identity (ANI) revealed that isolate JAGS had a close evolutionary relationship with A. ferridurans JCM18981, but whole-genome alignment showed that it had higher similarity in genomic structure with A. ferrooxidans species. Pan-genome analysis revealed that nine genomes were comprised of 4601 protein coding sequences, of which 43% were core genes (1982) and 23% were unique genes (1064). A. ferridurans species had more unique genes (205–246) than A. ferrooxidans species (21–234). Functional gene categorizations showed that A. ferridurans strains had a higher portion of genes involved in energy production and conversion while A. ferrooxidans had more for inorganic ion transport and metabolism. A high abundance of kdp, mer and ars genes, as well as mobile genetic elements, was found in isolate JAGS, which might contribute to its resistance to harsh environments. These findings expand our understanding of the evolutionary adaptation of Acidithiobacillus and indicate that A. ferridurans JAGS is a promising candidate for biomining and AMD biotreatment applications.

Both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria release nanosized extracellular vesicles called membrane vesicles (MVs, 20−400 nm), which have great potential in various biomedical applications due to their abilities to deliver effector molecules and induce therapeutic responses. To fully utilize bacterial MVs for therapeutic purposes, regulated and enhanced production of MVs would be highly advantageous. In this study, we developed a universal method to enhance MV yields in both G+/G− bacteria through an autonomous controlled peptidoglycan hydrolase (PGase) expression system. A significant increase (9.37-fold) of MV concentration was observed in engineered E. coli Nissle 1917 compared to the wild-type. With the help of this autonomous system, for the first time we experimentally confirmed horizontal gene transfer and nutrient acquisition in a cocultured bacterial consortium. Furthermore, the engineered probiotic E. coli strains with high yield of MVs showed higher activation of the innate immune responses in human embryonic kidney 293T (HEK293T) and human colorectal carcinoma cells (HCT116), thereby demonstrating the great potential of engineering probiotics in immunology and further living therapeutics in humans.

Genus Acidithiobacillus includes a group of Gram-negative Fe/S-oxidizing acidophilic chemolithotrophic bacteria that are extensively studied and used for biomining processes. Synthetic biology approaches are key means to study and improve their biomining performance. However, efficient genetic manipulations in Acidithiobacillus are still major bottlenecks. In this study, we report a simple and efficient pAFi system (CRISPR-dCas9) and a scarless pAF system (CRISPR-Cas9) for genetic manipulations in A. ferridurans JAGS. The pAFi system harboring both dCas9 and sgRNA was constructed based on pBBR1MCS-2 to knockdown HdrA and TusA genes, separately, of which the transcription levels were significantly downregulated by 48% and 93%, separately. The pAF system carrying pCas9-sgRNA-homology arms was constructed based on pJRD215 to delete HdrB3 gene and overexpress Rus gene. Our results demonstrated that the pAF system is a fast and efficient genome editing method with an average rate of 15-20% per transconjugant in one recombination event, compared to 10-3 and then 10-2 in two recombination events by traditional markerless engineering strategy. Moreover, with these two systems, we successfully regulated iron and sulfur metabolisms in A. ferridurans JAGS: the deletion of HdrB3 reduced 48% of sulfate production, and substitution overexpression of Rus promoter showed 8.82-fold of mRNA level and enhanced iron oxidation rate. With these high-efficient genetic tools for A. ferridurans, we will be able to study gene functions and create useful recombinants for biomining applications. Moreover, these systems could be extended to other Acidithiobacillus strains and promote the development of synthetic biology-assisted biomining.

Abstract Background: Aldehyde decarbonylases (ADs), which convert acyl aldehydes into alkanes, supply promising solution for producing alkanes from renewable feedstock. However the instability of ADs impedes their further application. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the degradation mechanism of ADs and engineer it towards high stability.Results: Here, we describe the discovery of a degradation tag (degron) in the AD from marine cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus marinus using error-prone PCR based directed evolution system. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that this C-terminal degron is common in bacterial ADs and identified a conserved C-terminal motif, RMSAYGLAAA, representing the AD degron (ADcon). Furthermore, we demonstrated that the ATP-dependent proteases ClpAP and Lon are involved in the degradation of AD-tagged proteins in E. coli, thereby limiting alkane production. Deletion or modification of the degron motif increased alkane production in vivo. Conclusion: This work revealed the presence of a novel degron in bacterial ADs responsible for its instability. The in vivo experiments proved eliminating or modifying the degron could stabilize AD, thereby producing higher titers of alkanes.

Abstract Background: Aldehyde decarbonylase (AD), which converts acyl aldehydes into alkanes, supplies promising solution for producing alkanes from renewable feedstock. However the instability of AD impeded its further application. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the degradation mechanism of AD and engineer it towards high stability. Results: Here, we describe the discovery of a degradation tag (degron) in the AD from marine cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus marinus via error-prone PCR based directed evolution system. Bioinformatic analysis revealed this C-terminal degron is common in the family of bacterial ADs and identified a conserved C-terminal motif, RMSAYGLAAA, representing the AD degron (ADcon). Furthermore, we demonstrated that the ATP-dependent proteases ClpAP and Lon are involved in the degradation of AD-tagged proteins in E. coli , thereby limiting alkane production. Deletion or modification of the degron motif increased alkane production in vivo . Conclusions: This work revealed the presence of a novel degron in bacterial ADs responsible for its instability. The in vivo experiments proved eliminating or modifying the degron could stabilize AD, thereby producing higher titers of alkanes.