A dynamic and multilocus metabolic regulation strategy using quorum-sensing-controlled bacterial small RNA.

Metabolic regulation strategies have been developed to redirect metabolic fluxes to production pathways. However, it is difficult to screen out target genes that, when repressed, improve yield without affecting cell growth. Here, we report a strategy using a quorum-sensing system to control small RNA transcription, allowing cell-density-dependent repression of target genes.

Quorum-sensing based small RNA regulation for dynamic and tuneable gene expression.

Objectives: Developing a dynamic regulation strategy is an essential step in establishing an automatic control system for manipulating metabolic fluxes and cellular behaviors. To broaden the extent of the application, a system that can generally control any gene of interest is demanded.

Results: Through characterization and optimization, the strategy repressed the immediate expression incrementally from 0 to 90% during culturing.

Improving biosynthetic production of pinene through plasmid recombination elimination and pathway optimization.

Pinene is a monoterpene with wide industrial applications, especially as a promising high energy-density jet fuel. Traditional production of pinene on an industrial scale is material consumptive and has a low yield. As an alternative, microbial organisms have been engineered though advanced synthetic biological techniques to produce a variety of heterologous products, including pinene.