Optogenetic control of transgene expression in Marchantia polymorpha

Area of Science:

• Plant biotechnology
• Optogenetics
• Metabolic engineering

Background:

• Marchantia polymorpha is a key model organism for plant metabolic engineering.
• The lack of well-characterized inducible promoters limits its application.
• Inducible systems are crucial for minimizing disruption during product over-accumulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the functionality of the light-inducible PULSE optogenetic system in Marchantia polymorpha.
• To enable light-inducible overproduction of the bioplastic poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB).
• To expand the metabolic engineering toolbox for Marchantia.

Main Methods:

• The PULSE system was introduced into transgenic M. polymorpha.
• Luciferase was used as a reporter to characterize PULSE induction.
• The PHB biosynthetic pathway was expressed under PULSE control for inducible production.

Main Results:

• PULSE demonstrated full functionality with minimal leakage in M. polymorpha.
• A developmental phenotype was observed with the PULSE construct, even without induction.
• PHB accumulation levels were comparable between constitutive and inducible expression.

Conclusions:

• Optogenetic control of PHB biosynthesis alleviated some negative effects on biomass.
• The PULSE system significantly enhances the metabolic engineering capabilities of M. polymorpha.
• This study provides a valuable new tool for plant synthetic biology.