efficient-sars-cov-2-quantitative-reverse-transcriptase-pcr-saliva

Efficient SARS-CoV-2 Quantitative Reverse Transcriptase PCR Saliva Diagnostic Strategy utilizing Open-Source Pipetting Robots

The emergence of the recent SARS-CoV-2 global health crisis introduced key challenges for epidemiological research and clinical testing. Characterized by ...

Clemson University

University of Delaware

Tyrosine sulfation is a type of post-translational modification (PTM) catalyzed by tyrosylprotein sulfotransferases (TPST). The modification plays a crucial role in mediating protein-protein interactions in many biologically important processes. There is no well-defined sequence motif for TPST sulfation, and the underlying determinants of TPST sulfation specificity remains elusive. Here, we perform molecular modeling to uncover the structural and energetic determinants of TPST sulfation specificity.

Structural and energetic determinants of tyrosylprotein sulfotransferase sulfation specificity.

Eukaryotic promoters have a complex architecture to control both the strength and timing of gene transcription spanning up to thousands of bases from the initiation site. This complexity makes rational fine-tuning of promoters in fungi difficult to predict; however, this very same complexity enables multiple possible strategies for engineering promoter strength. Here, we studied promoter architecture in the oleaginous yeast, Yarrowia lipolytica. While recent studies have focused on upstream activating sequences, we systematically examined various components common in fungal promoters. Here, we examine several promoter components including upstream activating sequences, proximal promoter sequences, core promoters, and the TATA box in autonomously replicating expression plasmids and integrated into the genome. Our findings show that promoter strength can be fine-tuned through the engineering of the TATA box sequence, core promoter, and upstream activating sequences. Additionally, we identified a previously unreported oleic acid responsive transcription enhancement in the XPR2 upstream activating sequences, which illustrates the complexity of fungal promoters. The promoters engineered here provide new genetic tools for metabolic engineering in Y. lipolytica and provide promoter engineering strategies that may be useful in engineering other non-model fungal systems. 

Engineering Promoter Architecture in Oleaginous Yeast Yarrowia lipolytica.

The engineering of Yarrowia lipolytica to accumulate lipids with high titers and productivities has been enabled with a handful of constitutive promoters for pathway engineering. However, the development of promoters that are both strong and lipid responsive could greatly benefit the bioproduction efficiency of lipid-derived oleochemicals in oleaginous yeast. In this study, a fatty acid regulated hybrid promoter for use in Y. lipolytica is engineered. A 200 bp upstream regulatory sequence in the peroxisomal acyl CoA oxidase 2 (POX2) promoter is identified. Further analysis of the promoter sequence reveal a regulatory sequence, that when used in tandem repeats, lead to a 48-fold induction of gene expression relative to glucose and fourfold higher than the native POX2 promoter. To date, this is the strongest inducible promoter reported in Y. lipolytica. Taken together, the results show that it is possible to engineer strong promoters that retain strong inducibility. These types of promoters will be useful in controlling metabolism and as fatty acid sensors.

A Strong Hybrid Fatty Acid Inducible Transcriptional Sensor Built From Yarrowia lipolytica Upstream Activating and Regulatory Sequences.

Yarrowia lipolytica is an industrial yeast that has been used in the sustainable production of fatty acid-derived and lipid compounds due to its high growth capacity, genetic tractability, and oleaginous properties. This investigation examines the possibility of utilizing urea or urine as an alternative to ammonium sulfate as a nitrogen source to culture Y. lipolytica. The use of a stoichiometrically equivalent concentration of urea in lieu of ammonium sulfate significantly increased cell growth when glucose was used as the carbon source. Furthermore, Y. lipolytica growth was equally improved when grown with synthetic urine and real human urine. Equivalent or better lipid production was achieved when cells are grown on urea or urine. The successful use of urea and urine as nitrogen sources for Y. lipolytica growth highlights the potential of using cheaper media components as well as exploiting and recycling non-treated human waste streams for biotechnology processes.

Urea and urine are a viable and cost-effective nitrogen source for Yarrowia lipolytica biomass and lipid accumulation.

Lignin is the second most abundant biopolymer on earth and is a major source of aromatic compounds; however, it is vastly underutilized owing to its heterogeneous and recalcitrant nature. Microorganisms have evolved efficient mechanisms that overcome these challenges to depolymerize lignin and funnel complex mixtures of lignin-derived monomers to central metabolites. This review summarizes recent synthetic biology efforts to enhance lignin depolymerization and aromatic catabolism in bacterial and fungal hosts for the production of both natural and novel bioproducts. We also highlight difficulties in engineering complex phenotypes and discuss the outlook for the future of lignin biological valorization.

Synthetic Biology towards Engineering Microbial Lignin Biotransformation.

Metabolic engineering frequently requires both gene knockouts and gene integration. CRISPR-Cas9 has been extensively used to create double-stranded DNA breaks that result in indel mutations; however, such mutations can revert or create toxic product. Gene integration can also be accomplished by CRISPR-Cas9 introduced double-stranded DNA breaks and a donor DNA cassette. Here we describe our protocol for combining an efficient gene knockout created by introducing DNA cuts with two guide RNAs with a gene to be integrated at the knockout site. Including guide RNA target sites flanking the homology regions around the gene to be integrated enables both homology-directed repair and homology-mediated end joining, resulting in few deletions and a significant proportion of correctly knocked out and integrated genes.

Simultaneous Gene Excision and Integration by Dual-Guide CRISPR-Cas9.

CRISPR-Cas9 is frequently used for creating double-strand DNA breaks that result in indels through non-homologous end joining. Indels can revert to wild-type sequence and require sequencing or complex assays to measure. Cutting by two guide RNAs can lead to single indels at either cut site or simultaneous cutting at both sites and repair leading to gene excision.

Article	Year
Structural and energetic determinants of tyrosylprotein sulfotransferase sulfation specificity. Bioinformatics (Oxford, England)\| PubMed ID: 24794930	2014
Engineering Promoter Architecture in Oleaginous Yeast Yarrowia lipolytica. ACS synthetic biology\| PubMed ID: 26635071	2016
A Strong Hybrid Fatty Acid Inducible Transcriptional Sensor Built From Yarrowia lipolytica Upstream Activating and Regulatory Sequences. Biotechnology journal\| PubMed ID: 28731568	2017
Urea and urine are a viable and cost-effective nitrogen source for Yarrowia lipolytica biomass and lipid accumulation. Applied microbiology and biotechnology\| PubMed ID: 29383430	2018
Synthetic Biology towards Engineering Microbial Lignin Biotransformation. Trends in biotechnology\| PubMed ID: 33712323	2021
Simultaneous Gene Excision and Integration by Dual-Guide CRISPR-Cas9. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)\| PubMed ID: 33847982	2021
Gene Excision by Dual-Guide CRISPR-Cas9. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)\| PubMed ID: 33847983	2021

Mark A. Blenner

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