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Photosynthetic and extracellular production of glucosylglycerol by genetically engineered and gel-encapsulated cyanobacteria

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Abstract

Glucosylglycerol (GG) has a range of potential applications in health, pharmacy, and cosmetics due to its physiological, protein-stabilizing, and antioxidative properties. In addition to chemical synthesis and enzymatic catalysis, GG can be produced as a protective osmolyte in salt-stressed bacteria, such as the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. Here, we presented an efficient GG production and secretion by genetically modified and encapsulated Synechocystis cells grown in a semicontinuous manner. We improved the production and secretion of GG in Synechocystis by first disrupting both the ggtC and ggtD genes, which encode the subunits of a GG uptake transporter, as well as the ggpR gene, which encodes a repressor for GG synthesis. Then, we confirmed that the rapid GG release from salt-stressed cells of Synechocystis depended on the ion gradient across the cell membrane. Finally, we proved the feasibility of an agar gel encapsulation method in supporting cell growth and the GG production of Synechocystis under semicontinuous culturing conditions.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Excellent Youth Award of the Shandong Natural Science Foundation (JQ201306 to X. Lu), the Shandong Taishan Scholarship (X. Lu), the National Science Foundation of China (31301018), the Shandong Province Science and Technology Development Project (2014GSF121033), and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association (X. Tan).

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Author notes

  1. Wei Du

    Present address: Molecular Microbial Physiology Group, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, 1098 XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Energy Genetics, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 189 Songling Road, 266101, Qingdao, China

    Xiaoming Tan, Wei Du & Xuefeng Lu

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  1. Xiaoming Tan
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  2. Wei Du
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Correspondence to Xuefeng Lu.

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Tan, X., Du, W. & Lu, X. Photosynthetic and extracellular production of glucosylglycerol by genetically engineered and gel-encapsulated cyanobacteria. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 99, 2147–2154 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-6273-7

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