Collaborative Proposal: Exploiting synthetic GPCRs and mating factors as extracellular sensors for substrate-dependent assembly of complex cellulosomes

阻碍生物质更广泛地用于能源和化学品生产的主要障碍是缺乏克服这些材料的不稳定性的低成本技术。纤维素体是在许多厌氧微生物中发现的自组装的多酶复合物，其对于生物质解聚是高效的。研究小组已经成功地开发出一种合成酵母财团，展示了用于生物燃料生产的功能性纤维素酶体。然而，考虑到联盟中涉及的不同成员的复杂性，工程小区到小区协调是维持所需的整体功能的关键。他们在这个项目中的目标是设计合成的细胞外传感器，可用于调节酶和接头支架蛋白的分泌，这些酶和接头支架蛋白参与以底物依赖性方式组装适当的复杂纤维素体结构。这项研究具有重要的科学意义，因为它将为其他生物处理或生物医学应用中重要的细胞外传感器的设计提供一个通用框架。此外，参加这项研究的研究生将获得连接生物化学，现代遗传学和工艺工程的重要接口和协同作用的综合视角，以解决我们社会的重要问题。

1263719/1263768/1263799Chen/Robinson/Da Silva The primary obstacle impeding the more widespread use of biomass for energy and chemical production is the absence of a low-cost technology for overcoming the recalcitrance of these materials. Cellulosomes are self-assembled multi-enzyme complexes found in many anaerobic microorganisms that are highly efficient for biomass depolymerization. The group of investigators have successfully developed a synthetic yeast consortium displaying a functional cellulosome for biofuel production. However, given the complexity of the different members involved in the consortium, engineering cell to cell coordination is the key in maintaining the required overall functionality. Their goal in this project is to design synthetic extracellular sensors that can be used to regulate the secretion of enzymes and adaptor scaffoldins involved in the assembly of the appropriate complex cellulosome structure in a substrate-dependent manner. The proposed research is scientifically significant because it will provide a general framework for the design of extracellular sensors that are important for other bioprocessing or biomedical applications. Moreover, graduate students participating in this research will gain an integrated perspective of the important interfaces and synergies connecting biochemistry, modern genetics, and process engineering to solve an important problem of our society.