Tool Kit (KTK): A Modular Cloning System for Multigene Constructs and Programmed Protein Secretion from Cellulose Producing Bacteria.

Bacteria proficient at producing cellulose are an attractive synthetic biology host for the emerging field of Engineered Living Materials (ELMs). Species from the genus produce high yields of pure cellulose materials in a short time with minimal resources, and pioneering work has shown that genetic engineering in these strains is possible and can be used to modify the material and its production. To accelerate synthetic biology progress in these bacteria, we introduce here the tool kit (KTK), a standardized modular cloning system based on Golden Gate DNA assembly that allows DNA parts to be combined to build complex multigene constructs expressed in bacteria from plasmids.