Characterization and Application of a Stationary Phase Promoter Library from Serratia marcescens

Serratia marcescens has garnered increasing attention as a promising host for valuable compound production. However, the lack of an efficient gene regulation toolkit severely hampers its applications. Here, a library of stationary phase promoters was screened in S. marcescens HBA7 using RNA-seq and RT-qPCR, revealing a 43-fold regulatory range with the red fluorescent protein mKate2 as the reporter. The β-galactosidase was employed to demonstrate the universality in driving the expression of different proteins. The wide-ranging utility of these promoters in different hosts was demonstrated in Escherichia coli. Moreover, to assess their potential application, the strongest promoter, P2, was employed to express the swrW gene, resulting in a roughly 20-fold increase in serrawettin W1 production in S. marcescens HBQA7ΔswrW. In summary, this study successfully constructed a gradient-strength stationary phase promoter library, providing an effective toolkit for gene regulation and secondary metabolite production in diverse prokaryotes, including S. marcescens and E. coli.