Modification of response behavior of zinc sensing HydHG two-component system using a self-activation loop and genomic integration.

Pham, Van; Ravikumar, Sambandam; Lee, Seung; Hong, Soon; Yoo, Ik-Keun

Characterizing the dynamics of HydHG-a two-component transcriptional regulatory network for exogenous zinc in E. coli-is essential in understanding the biology of these regulatory and signaling pathways. Here, we used a synthetic biology strategy to modify the dynamic characteristics of the HydHG network in two ways. First, a self-activation loop for HydHG network was created under the control of zraP promoter, after which the threshold Zn concentration for the self-activated HydHG network significantly decreased from 200 to 10 μM. Second, the self-activation loop was integrated into the E. coli genome allowing the threshold Zn concentration to be elevated to 500 μM. As the threshold Zn concentration could be modified in both directions, the introduction of a self-activation loop and the entire genomic integration strategy may prove useful for the creation of a two-component bacterial biosensor with varying sensitivities.

GENOMICS; ACTIVATION (Chemistry); TRANSCRIPTION factors; SYNTHETIC biology; BIOSENSORS; CELLULAR signal transduction

Bioprocess & Biosystems Engineering, 2013, Vol 36, Issue 9, p1185

1615-7591

Academic Journal

10.1007/s00449-012-0845-7