Emerging Species and Genome Editing Tools: Future Prospects in Cyanobacterial Synthetic Biology
Year: 2019
Type: review
Abstract: Recent advances in synthetic biology and an emerging algal biotechnology market have spurred a prolific increase in the availability of molecular tools for cyanobacterial research. Nevertheless, work to date has focused primarily on only a small subset of model species, which arguably limits fundamental discovery and applied research towards wider commercialisation. Here, we review the requirements for uptake of new strains, including several recently characterised fast-growing species and promising non-model species. Furthermore, we discuss the potential applications of new techniques available for transformation, genetic engineering and regulation, including an up-to-date appraisal of current Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/CRISPR associated protein (CRISPR/Cas) and CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) research in cyanobacteria. We also provide an overview of several exciting molecular tools that could be ported to cyanobacteria for more advanced metabolic engineering approaches (e.g., genetic circuit design). Lastly, we introduce a forthcoming mutant library for the model species Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 that promises to provide a further powerful resource for the cyanobacterial research community.
Source: Microorganisms
Institutions: University of Edinburgh, University of East Anglia
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,216
Awards: East of Scotland Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership, University of Edinburgh FINLAYSON UKRI Innovation Fellowships: BBSRC Flexible Talent Mobility Accounts, G1829595752, G2939789729, G3468372981, A molecular toolbox to commercialise cyanobacteria: synthetic genetic sensor-regulator circuits for increased yields of phycobiliproteins, G4134516304, Utilising machine learning to optimise metabolic engineering in cyanobacteria for industrial compound production, CyanoSource: A foundry generated barcoded mutant library resource for the model cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, Enabling synthetic biology with an expanded library of engineered orthogonal genetic logic gates and switches, CyanoSource: A foundry generated barcoded mutant library resource for the model cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, G7361751065
OpenAlex ID: W2977031274