Project description:Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a pandemic spread across multiple infectious disease microbes. To provide a new tool to study AMR, here we develop a Klebsiella pneumoniae cell-free gene expression (CFE) system. To characterise the system, we use proteomics to compare this to a Escherichia coli MG1655 CFE model, to identify relative differences and unique proteins. Then we use this native CFE system to profile antimicrobial activity in comparison to whole cell inhibition, to reveal host differences in IC50/MIC50 values. Finally, we use the CFE tool to study AMR variants, at a proof-of-concept level. As an exemplar, we show that RpoB H526L confers a 58-fold increase in CFE resistance to rifampicin – a common genotype frequently observed in rifampicin-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates. In summary, we provide a cell-free synthetic biology strategy for the profiling of antibiotic sensitivity and resistance from K. pneumoniae. While initial processing requires Biosafety Level 2, the final extracts are non-living and suitable for long-term storage, and potentially transfer to a Biosafety Level 1 lab. This bioassay has potential uses for early-stage host-specific antimicrobial development and the testing of AMR variants for structure-activity relationship studies. The data reposited is label-free high-resolution LC-MS proteomics data performed to characterise the proteins in cell-free extract of K. pneumoniae ATCC 13882 and compare to that of E. coli MG1655 to identify common and unique proteins. We also characterised the proteins of K. pneumoniae clinically resistant isolates ST258-T1b and NJST258-1, and compared them to K. pneumoniae ATCC 13882 laboratory strain.
Project description:Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a pandemic spread across multiple infectious disease microbes. To provide a new tool to study AMR, here we develop a Klebsiella pneumoniae cell-free gene expression (CFE) system. To characterise the system, we use proteomics to compare this to a Escherichia coli MG1655 CFE model, to identify relative differences and unique proteins. Then we use this native CFE system to profile antimicrobial activity in comparison to whole cell inhibition, to reveal host differences in IC50/MIC50 values. Finally, we use the CFE tool to study AMR variants, at a proof-of-concept level. As an exemplar, we show that RpoB H526L confers a 58-fold increase in CFE resistance to rifampicin – a common genotype frequently observed in rifampicin-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates. In summary, we provide a cell-free synthetic biology strategy for the profiling of antibiotic sensitivity and resistance from K. pneumoniae. While initial processing requires Biosafety Level 2, the final extracts are non-living and suitable for long-term storage, and potentially transfer to a Biosafety Level 1 lab. This bioassay has potential uses for early-stage host-specific antimicrobial development and the testing of AMR variants for structure-activity relationship studies. The data reposited is label-free high-resolution LC-MS proteomics data performed to characterise the proteins in cell-free extract of K. pneumoniae ATCC 13882 and compare to that of E. coli MG1655 to identify common and unique proteins. We also characterised the proteins of K. pneumoniae clinically resistant isolates ST258-T1b and NJST258-1, and compared them to K. pneumoniae ATCC 13882 laboratory strain.
Project description:The field of metabolic engineering has yielded remarkable accomplishments in using cells to produce valuable molecules, and cell-free expression (CFE) systems have the potential to push the field even further. However, CFE systems still face some outstanding challenges, including endogenous metabolic activity that is poorly understood yet has a significant impact on CFE productivity. Here, we use metabolomics to characterize the temporal metabolic changes in CFE systems and their constituent components, including significant metabolic activity in central carbon and amino acid metabolism. We find that while changing the reaction starting state <i>via</i> lysate preincubation impacts protein production, it has a comparatively small impact on metabolic state. We also demonstrate that changes to lysate preparation have a larger effect on protein yield and temporal metabolic profiles, though general metabolic trends are conserved. Finally, while we improve protein production through targeted supplementation of metabolic enzymes, we show that the endogenous metabolic activity is fairly resilient to these enzymatic perturbations. Overall, this work highlights the robust nature of CFE reaction metabolism as well as the importance of understanding the complex interdependence of metabolites and proteins in CFE systems to guide optimization efforts.
Project description:Biotechnology has transformed the production of various chemicals and pharmaceuticals due to its efficient and selective processes, but it is inherently limited by its use of live cells as 'biocatalysts.' Cell-free expression (CFE) systems, which use a protein lysate isolated from whole cells, have the potential to overcome these challenges and broaden the scope of biomanufacturing. Implementation of CFE systems at scale will require determining clear markers of lysate activity and developing supplementation approaches that compensate for potential variability across batches and experimental protocols. Towards this goal, we use metabolomics to relate lysate preparation and performance to metabolic activity. We show that lysate processing affects the metabolite makeup of lysates, and that lysate metabolite levels change over the course of a CFE reaction regardless of whether a target compound is produced. Finally, we use this information to develop ways to standardize lysate activity and to design an improved CFE system.
Project description:A safer design and higher eficacy of nano-gold therapeutic formulations requires examination of cellular responses to gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). In this work we compared cellular uptake, cytotoxicity and RNA expression patterns induced in Caco-2 cells of citrate-stabilized Au NP of two different sizes (5 and 30 nm). The toxicity was measured with Colony Forming Efficiency (CFE) and Trypan Blue assays at 24 and 72 h after exposure to AuNPs in the 10 - 300 mM range. Toxicity was observed only in the CFE assay, at 200 and 300 mM exposure levels, and exclusively for smaller AuNPs size. Cellular internalization was dose and time-dependent for both AuNPs. The most pronounced changes in gene expression, evaluated with Agilent microarrays, were detected at 72 h (300 mM) for 5 nm AuNPs, with 103 up and 708 down regulated transcripts. For 30 nm AuNPs, only 4 gene transcripts were repressed under these conditions. The biological processes affected by 5 nm AuNPs were: RNA/zinc ion/transition metal ion binding (decreased), cadmium/copper ion binding and glutathione metabolism (increased). Some Nrf2 responsive genes (several metallothioneins, HMOX, G6PD, OSGIN1 and GPX2) were highly up regulated. Members of the selenoproteins (SELT, SELK, 15 kDa selenoprotein, SEPP1 and GPX2) were also differentially expressed. Our findings indicate that at high concentrations, smaller AuNPs can induce metal exposure and oxidative stress signaling pathways, and might influence selenium homeostasis. Therefore, some observed effects associated with nano-gold cytotoxicity can be further explored as potential enhancers of anti-cancer properties of already existing AuNPs based nanomedicin. Caco-2 cells were expoxed to spherical gold nanoparticles of two different sizes and concentrations (5 and 30 nm AuNPs, 100 and 300 microM). Cells were collected after 24 or 72 hours