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Escherichia coli-Based Cell-Free Protein Synthesis: Protocols for a robust, flexible, and accessible platform technology
Published on: February 25, 2019
Engineering the next-generation synthetic cell factory driven by protein engineering
Ailin Guan1, Zixi He1, Xin Wang2
1College of Biomass Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China.
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Synthetic cell factory offers substantial advantages in economically efficient production of biofuels, chemicals, and pharmaceutical compounds. However, to create a high-performance synthetic cell factory, precise regulation of cellular material and energy flux is essential. In this context, protein components including enzymes, transcription factor-based biosensors and transporters play pivotal roles. Protein engineering aims to create novel protein variants with desired properties by modifying or designing protein sequences. This review focuses on summarizing the latest advancements of protein engineering in optimizing various aspects of synthetic cell factory, including: enhancing enzyme activity to eliminate production bottlenecks, altering enzyme selectivity to steer metabolic pathways towards desired products, modifying enzyme promiscuity to explore innovative routes, and improving the efficiency of transporters. Furthermore, the utilization of protein engineering to modify protein-based biosensors accelerates evolutionary process and optimizes the regulation of metabolic pathways. The remaining challenges and future opportunities in this field are also discussed.
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