Programming Cells by Multicopy Chromosomal Integration Using CRISPR-Associated Transposases

CRISPR J. 2021 Jun;4(3):350-359. doi: 10.1089/crispr.2021.0018.

Abstract

Directed evolution and targeted genome editing have been deployed to create genetic variants with usefully altered phenotypes. However, these methods are limited to high-throughput screening methods or serial manipulation of single genes. In this study, we implemented multicopy chromosomal integration using CRISPR-associated transposases (MUCICAT) to simultaneously target up to 11 sites on the Escherichia coli chromosome for multiplex gene interruption and/or insertion, generating combinatorial genomic diversity. The MUCICAT system was improved by replacing the isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactoside (IPTG)-dependent promoter to decouple gene editing and product synthesis and truncating the right end to reduce the leakage expression of cargo. We applied MUCICAT to engineer and optimize the N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) biosynthesis pathway in E. coli to overproduce the industrially important GlcNAc in only 8 days. Two rounds of transformation, the first round for disruption of two degradation pathways related gene clusters and the second round for multiplex integration of the GlcNAc gene cassette, would generate a library with 1-11 copies of the GlcNAc cassette. We isolated a best variant with five copies of GlcNAc cassettes, producing 11.59 g/L GlcNAc, which was more than sixfold than that of the strain containing the pET-GNAc plasmid. Our multiplex approach MUCICAT has potential to become a powerful tool of cell programing and can be widely applied in many fields such as synthetic biology.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acetylglucosamine / metabolism
  • CRISPR-Cas Systems
  • China
  • Chromosomes*
  • Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats*
  • Escherichia coli / genetics
  • Fermentation
  • Gene Editing / methods
  • Plasmids
  • Transposases* / genetics

Substances

  • Transposases
  • Acetylglucosamine