A Sirtuin-Dependent T7 RNA Polymerase Variant

Abstract

Transcriptional regulation is of great significance for cells to maintain homeostasis and, meanwhile, represents an innovative but less explored means to control biological processes in synthetic biology and bioengineering. Herein we devised a T7 RNA polymerase (T7RNAP) variant through replacing an essential lysine located in the catalytic core (K631) with N εacetyl-L-lysine (AcK) via genetic code expansion. This T7RNAP variant requires the deacetylase activity of NAD-dependent sirtuins to recover its enzymatic activities and thereby sustains sirtuindependent transcription of the gene of interest in live cells including bacteria and mammalian cells as well as in in vitro systems. This T7RNAP variant could link gene transcription to sirtuin expression and NAD availability, thus holding promise to support some relevant research.