1.Introduction Crop breeding is transitioning to engineering by synthetic biology.Conventional breeding,constrained by limited genetic variation and lengthy development cycles,cannot meet the challenges of micronutrie...1.Introduction Crop breeding is transitioning to engineering by synthetic biology.Conventional breeding,constrained by limited genetic variation and lengthy development cycles,cannot meet the challenges of micronutrient malnutrition and yield reductions from climate change with sufficient speed or precision[1].Consequently,agriculture is transitioning from selection-based breeding to designbased engineering.Synthetic biology enables the precision modification of metabolic pathways and the construction of novel trait combinations[1,2].This special issue,Synthetic Biology for Crop Improvement,brings together 26 articles that showcase the field’s transition from laboratory curiosity to field-validated agricultural technology.The collection spans 13 plant species,from staple grains and major industrial crops to horticultural and medicinal plants,demonstrating the universal applicability of metabolic engineering.These studies reveal maturation toward field readiness:independent groups achieving reproducible results in identical pathways,greenhouse concepts advancing to multi-season field trials,and engineered traits delivering measurable agronomic value.This progression answers the central question in crop synthetic biology,shifting the paradigm from asking“can it work?”to demonstrating“how it works,and here are the yields”.This transformation is grounded in understanding and manipulating plant metabolism at molecular resolution[3].展开更多
Melatonin is a biogenic amine that can be found in plants,animals and microorganism.The metabolic pathway of melatonin is different in various organisms,and biosynthetic endogenous melatonin acts as a molecular signal...Melatonin is a biogenic amine that can be found in plants,animals and microorganism.The metabolic pathway of melatonin is different in various organisms,and biosynthetic endogenous melatonin acts as a molecular signal and antioxidant protection against external stress.Microbial synthesis pathways of melatonin are similar to those of animals but different from those of plants.At present,the method of using microorganism fermentation to produce melatonin is gradually prevailing,and exploring the biosynthetic pathway of melatonin to modify microorganism is becoming the mainstream,which has more advantages than traditional chemical synthesis.Here,we review recent advances in the synthesis,optimization of melatonin pathway.L-tryptophan is one of the two crucial precursors for the synthesis of melatonin,which can be produced through a four-step reaction.Enzymes involved in melatonin synthesis have low specificity and catalytic efficiency.Site-directed mutation,directed evolution or promotion of cofactor synthesis can enhance enzyme activity and increase the metabolic flow to promote microbial melatonin production.On the whole,the status and bottleneck of melatonin biosynthesis can be improved to a higher level,providing an effective reference for future microbial modification.展开更多
Biofi lms often impose harmful infl uences in many niches involving food contamination,antibiotics resistance,and environmental issues.However,eradicating biofi lms remains diffi cultly because the formation mechanism...Biofi lms often impose harmful infl uences in many niches involving food contamination,antibiotics resistance,and environmental issues.However,eradicating biofi lms remains diffi cultly because the formation mechanism of biofi lms is still incompletely clarifi ed.Here,we attempted to explore the regulatory role of magnesium(Mg^(2+))on biofi lm formation in Escherichia coli(E.coli)using phenotype visualization with targeted metabolomics method.We found that Mg^(2+)could exert signifi cant infl uence on biofi lm formation with a concentration dependency by regulating phenotypic morphology and triggering metabolic modifi cations of biofi lm.Phenotypic imaging revealed that increasing concentration of Mg^(2+)gradually inhibited biofi lm formation,Mg^(2+)was observed to restore the microstructure of E.coli strain in biofi lms to that in the relevant planktonic cells.In addition,our metabolomics analysis characterized 20 diff erential metabolites and associated two metabolic pathways including nucleotide metabolism and amino acid metabolism that were notably modifi ed during biofi lm formation under the treatments of varied Mg^(2+).Altogether,our work provides a novel insight into the infl uence of Mg^(2+)on biofi lm formation at a metabolic level,which is implicated in the novel solution to disturb biofi lm formation through the regulation of Mg^(2+)and functional metabolite interaction.展开更多
文摘1.Introduction Crop breeding is transitioning to engineering by synthetic biology.Conventional breeding,constrained by limited genetic variation and lengthy development cycles,cannot meet the challenges of micronutrient malnutrition and yield reductions from climate change with sufficient speed or precision[1].Consequently,agriculture is transitioning from selection-based breeding to designbased engineering.Synthetic biology enables the precision modification of metabolic pathways and the construction of novel trait combinations[1,2].This special issue,Synthetic Biology for Crop Improvement,brings together 26 articles that showcase the field’s transition from laboratory curiosity to field-validated agricultural technology.The collection spans 13 plant species,from staple grains and major industrial crops to horticultural and medicinal plants,demonstrating the universal applicability of metabolic engineering.These studies reveal maturation toward field readiness:independent groups achieving reproducible results in identical pathways,greenhouse concepts advancing to multi-season field trials,and engineered traits delivering measurable agronomic value.This progression answers the central question in crop synthetic biology,shifting the paradigm from asking“can it work?”to demonstrating“how it works,and here are the yields”.This transformation is grounded in understanding and manipulating plant metabolism at molecular resolution[3].
基金the National Key R&D Program of China(2021YFC2100900)National Nature Science Foundation of China(32100062)+1 种基金Youth Innovation Promotion Association,CAS(2020182)Tianjin Synthetic Biotechnology Inno-vation Capacity Improvement Project(TSBICIP-CXRC-029).
文摘Melatonin is a biogenic amine that can be found in plants,animals and microorganism.The metabolic pathway of melatonin is different in various organisms,and biosynthetic endogenous melatonin acts as a molecular signal and antioxidant protection against external stress.Microbial synthesis pathways of melatonin are similar to those of animals but different from those of plants.At present,the method of using microorganism fermentation to produce melatonin is gradually prevailing,and exploring the biosynthetic pathway of melatonin to modify microorganism is becoming the mainstream,which has more advantages than traditional chemical synthesis.Here,we review recent advances in the synthesis,optimization of melatonin pathway.L-tryptophan is one of the two crucial precursors for the synthesis of melatonin,which can be produced through a four-step reaction.Enzymes involved in melatonin synthesis have low specificity and catalytic efficiency.Site-directed mutation,directed evolution or promotion of cofactor synthesis can enhance enzyme activity and increase the metabolic flow to promote microbial melatonin production.On the whole,the status and bottleneck of melatonin biosynthesis can be improved to a higher level,providing an effective reference for future microbial modification.
基金supported by the National Key R&D Program of China(2017YFC1308600 and 2017YFC1308605)the National Natural Science Foundation of China Grant(31670031)Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai(21ZR1431600)
文摘Biofi lms often impose harmful infl uences in many niches involving food contamination,antibiotics resistance,and environmental issues.However,eradicating biofi lms remains diffi cultly because the formation mechanism of biofi lms is still incompletely clarifi ed.Here,we attempted to explore the regulatory role of magnesium(Mg^(2+))on biofi lm formation in Escherichia coli(E.coli)using phenotype visualization with targeted metabolomics method.We found that Mg^(2+)could exert signifi cant infl uence on biofi lm formation with a concentration dependency by regulating phenotypic morphology and triggering metabolic modifi cations of biofi lm.Phenotypic imaging revealed that increasing concentration of Mg^(2+)gradually inhibited biofi lm formation,Mg^(2+)was observed to restore the microstructure of E.coli strain in biofi lms to that in the relevant planktonic cells.In addition,our metabolomics analysis characterized 20 diff erential metabolites and associated two metabolic pathways including nucleotide metabolism and amino acid metabolism that were notably modifi ed during biofi lm formation under the treatments of varied Mg^(2+).Altogether,our work provides a novel insight into the infl uence of Mg^(2+)on biofi lm formation at a metabolic level,which is implicated in the novel solution to disturb biofi lm formation through the regulation of Mg^(2+)and functional metabolite interaction.
