Development of biosensors and their application in metabolic engineering.

Development of biosensors and their application in metabolic engineering. Curr Opin Chem Biol. 2015 Jun 4;28:1-8 Authors: Zhang J, Jensen MK, Keasling JD Abstract In a sustainable bioeconomy, many commodities and high value chemicals, including pharmaceuticals, will be manufactured using microbial cell factories from renewable feedstocks. These cell factories can be efficiently generated by constructing libraries of diversified genomes followed by screening for the desired phenotypes. However, methods available for microbial genome diversification far exceed our ability to screen and select for those variants with optimal performance. Genetically encoded biosensors have shown the potential to address this gap, given their ability to respond to small molecule binding and ease of implementation with high-throughput analysis. Here we describe recent progress in biosensor development and their applications in a metabolic engineering context. We also highlight examples of how biosensors can be integrated with synthetic circuits to exert feedback regulation on the metabolism for improved performance of cell factories. PMID: 26056948 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Biology - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Tags: Curr Opin Chem Biol Source Type: research