Directed evolution of TetR for constructing sensitive and broad-spectrum tetracycline antibiotics whole-cell biosensor.

Antibiotic abuse is the main reason for the drug resistance of pathogenic bacteria, posing a potential health risk. Antibiotic surveillance is critical for preventing antibiotic contamination. This study aimed to develop a sensitive and broad-spectrum whole-cell biosensor for tetracycline antibiotics (TCs) detection.

Directly Evolved AlkS-Based Biosensor Platform for Monitoring and High-Throughput Screening of Alkane Production.

Biosynthetic alkane using acyl-ACP aldehyde reductase (AAR) and aldehyde-deformylating oxygenase (ADO) from cyanobacteria is considered a promising alternative for the production of biofuels and chemical feedstocks. However, the lack of suitable screening methods to improve the catalytic efficiency of AAR and ADO has hindered further improvements in alkane production. Herein, a novel alkane biosensor was developed based on transcriptional factor AlkS by directed evolution, which shows sensitive dynamic response curves for exogenous long-chain alkanes as well as monitoring of endogenously produced alkanes.