Two New Plasmid Post-segregational Killing Mechanisms for the Implementation of Synthetic Gene Networks in Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: Plasmids are the workhorse of both industrial biotechnology and synthetic biology, but ensuring they remain in bacterial cells is a challenge. Antibiotic selection cannot be used to stabilize plasmids in most real-world applications, and inserting dynamical gene networks into the genome remains challenging. Plasmids have evolved several mechanisms for stability, one of which, post-segregational killing (PSK), ensures that plasmid-free cells do not survive. Here we demonstrate the plasmid-stabilizing capabilities of the axe/txe toxin-antitoxin system and the microcin-V bacteriocin system in the probiotic bacteria Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 and show that they can outperform the commonly used hok/sok. Using plasmid stability assays, automated flow cytometry analysis, mathematical models, an

SUBMITTER: Fedorec AJH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6489366 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature