Toward synthetic biology of a Streptomyces bacterium as a possible platform for production of high-value chemicals and biofuels

Synthetic Biology is a new discipline, which combines principles of engineering design and molecular biology to create novel, tightly controlled biological systems. Synthetic Biology Center at MIT (Cambridge, USA) is working towards designe, construction and characterzation of variuos genetic tools and systems that can be used for industrial and medical applications. Collaboration with this Center would provide new opportunities for the Norwegian research institutions working in the field of biotechnolgy . Recently established contact with one of the Center's directors, Prof Christopher Voigt has led to a mutual interest in running a pilot project that could widen the range of microbial hosts used by synthetic biologists to establish robust and controllab le producers of various chemicals. Unmatched capacity of some streptomycete bacteria to synthesize copious amounts of polyketide-derived secondary metabolites makes them attractive targets for the development of a robust "chassis" for production of valuab le chemicals and biofuels. Streptomyces noursei, the producer of a polyketide-derived antifungal antibiotic nystatin, is a fast-growing, genetically stable bacterium capable of producing polyketides at >80 g/l quantities. This bacterium is also amenable t o genetic manipulation, as demonstrated by rational generation of mutants producing engineered nystatin analogues. Our goal is to develop S. noursei in a bacterial "chassis" for production of certain chemicals is hampered by the lack of characterized gene tic tools (which is a common problem for many industrially important streptomycetes). In the proposed pilot project, MIT and NTNU aim at taking the first steps toward development of well-characterized genetic tools necessary to monitor and control gene ex pression in streptomycetes.