Precise metabolic engineering of carotenoid biosynthesis in Escherichia coli towards a low-cost biosensor.

ABSTRACT: Micronutrient deficiencies, including zinc deficiency, are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths annually. A key obstacle to allocating scarce treatment resources is the ability to measure population blood micronutrient status inexpensively and quickly enough to identify those who most need treatment. This paper develops a metabolically engineered strain of Escherichia coli to produce different colored pigments (violacein, lycopene, and β-carotene) in response to different extracellular zinc levels, for eventual use in an inexpensive blood zinc diagnostic test. However, obtaining discrete color states in the carotenoid pathway required precise engineering of metabolism to prevent reaction at low zinc concentrations but allow complete reaction at higher concentrations, and all und

SUBMITTER: Watstein DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4718661 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature