@inproceedings{01H59ZS2PDMMBEZZK4JC4W6ENG,
  abstract     = {{Background: microbial membranes are naturally impermeable to most compounds, meaning that specialized transporter proteins are needed to enable the import and export of biomolecules. This makes transporter a key yet understudied area of engineering for cell factories like Escherichia coli. In particular, aquaporins (AQPs) are of great interest as they enable small polar molecule transport, many of which are of industrial concern, and they do not consume energy to function. Since their structure is well-described, they are also promising targets for engineering.
Objectives: transmembrane channels specific for small polar molecules will be engineered to facilitate the transport of compounds of interest, while retaining intermediates. Focus is placed on polyols of industrial concern (1,3-propanediol) and C1 carbon substrates (CO2, methanol and others). These improved channels will be deployed in production strains to demonstrate their potential for cell factories.
Methods: two strategies are used, the small scale testing of natural channel variants, and a large scale method involving semi-rational mutagenesis of channel residues involved in substrate selectivity. To screen these libraries, biosensors are used to measure intracellular substrate concentrations during transport, resulting in a scalable fluorescent output that can be analyzed in plate readers but also using Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS).
Results: biosensors for the detection of 1,3-propanediol and C1 substrates have been tested and developed, and AQPs are being screened for improved transport. Already the previously undescribed involvement of AQPs in the transport of specific polyols has been demonstrated.}},
  author       = {{Jenkins Sánchez, Liam Richard and Sips, Lobke and Van Bogaert, Inge}},
  booktitle    = {{10th FEMS Congress of European Microbiologists (FEMS 2023), Abstracts}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  location     = {{Hamburg, Germany}},
  title        = {{Membrane channel engineering for microbial cell factories}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}