Team:Tec-Monterrey EKAM/Modular

Modular Terpenoid BioFactory

Ever since the potential of genetic engineering became apparent, we have seen a rise in the use of synthetic biology to develop full-fledged systems working for the very interests of mankind. The idea that a basic system could potentially be used in the production of a whole range of molecules suggests that this kind of multi-directed manufacturing could be designed to optimally synthesize any given product at a given time. This is when the idea of a modular biofactory comes up, and the proper strategies for its design and execution were the focus of the project.

Starting from the assumption that a synthetic biology project is founded on the design of the proper genetic construct being transformed into an organism, it follows that most of the versatility of the project rests on the proper planning strategies applied to the DNA molecule. This would allow for distinct parts of the construct to be exchanged, added, or eliminated, depending on the development and focus that is ultimately given to the entire project.

Considering restriction enzymes as the basic tool for molecular cloning, it is possible to strategically locate the proper restriction sites in a genetic construct for the entire cloning process to be optimized. The proper design can come up with a master molecule from which a great number of sequence combinations can be derived using a limited number of enzymes. If certain restriction site pairs are assigned to each specific module, it would enable the future manipulation of each of these specific parts separately in the most efficient way possible.

The ability to manipulate specific portions of the genetic constructs opens up possibilities in the project execution that allow it to be more dynamic and adaptable. When working with a synthesized construct, one of the barriers for its proper realization is the high costs of producing long nucleotide sequences by oligonucleotide synthesis. This modular design strategy, by allowing to make multiple sequence combinations of the already synthesized construct, enables to study different sequence setups without having to synthesize each specific iteration separately, thus cutting a great amount of costs from the project.

Obviously, this can and has been achieved by working with digestion and ligation reactions, but multiple reactions convey an additional expense on reactants, mostly enzymes. Because a desired sequence exchange could be done by a single digestion and ligation, the modular strategy also promises a reduction on costs in this area. Even further, oligonucleotide synthesis has a limited sequence length that can be reached without errors, so larger constructs require the use of subcloning, which further expands the project’s cost. This is when the In-Fusion tool comes in handy, as it makes it possible, through flanking site recombination, to construct precise DNA molecules by joining several fragments. This allows for the synthesis of separate sequences to be ordered and then these fragments to be used in a single reaction that will end up with the final desired construct, with the modular design strategy implemented.

Having the option to easily manipulate different sections of the genetic construct makes it possible to debug a genetically engineered system by switching the involved components and using trial and error, so malfunctioning parts can be edited. This property also makes it easier to characterize certain parts by enabling the use of different expression assemblies. A module can be constituted by a switchable promoter or reporter gene, for example, offering the opportunity to reuse systems that have been proved useful to study new single parts.