A novel riboregulator switch system of gene expression for enhanced microbial production of succinic acid

Abstract

In this paper, a novel riboregulator Switch System of Gene Expression including an OFF-TO-ON switch and an ON-TO-OFF switch was designed to regulate the expression state of target genes between “ON” and “OFF” by switching the identifiability of ribosome recognition site (RBS) based on the thermodynamic stability of different RNA–RNA hybridizations between RBS and small noncoding RNAs. The proposed riboregulator switch system was employed for the fermentative production of succinic acid using an engineered strain of E. coli JW1021, during which the expression of mgtC gene was controlled at “ON” state and that of pepc and ecaA genes were controlled at the “OFF” state in the lag phase and switched to the “OFF” and “ON” state once the strain enters the logarithmic phase. The results showed that using the strain of JW1021, the yield and productivity of succinic acid can reach 0.91 g g−1 and 3.25 g L−1 h−1, respectively, much higher than those using the strains without harboring the riboregulator switch system.