A light-controlled cell lysis system in bacteria. (1st June 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wang, Geyi; Lu, Xin; Zhu, Yisha; Zhang, Wei; Liu, Jiahui; Wu, Yankang; Yu, Liyang; Sun, Dongchang; Cheng, Feng
• Is Part Of: Journal of industrial microbiology & biotechnology. Volume 45:Number 6(2018)
• Page Start: 429
• Page End: 432
• Publication Date: 2018-06-01
• Subjects: Cell lysis -- Light-controlled system -- Fermentation industry -- Bacteria; Industrial microbiology -- Periodicals; 660.62
• DOI: 10.1007/s10295-018-2034-4
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1367-5435

Abstract

Abstract: Intracellular products (e.g., insulin), which are obtained through cell lysis, take up a big share of the biotech industry. It is often time-consuming, laborious, and environment-unfriendly to disrupt bacterial cells with traditional methods. In this study, we developed a molecular device for controlling cell lysis with light. We showed that intracellular expression of a single lysin protein was sufficient for efficient bacterial cell lysis. By placing the lysin-encoding gene under the control of an improved light-controlled system, we successfully controlled cell lysis by switching on/off light: OD600 of the Escherichia coli cell culture was decreased by twofold when the light-controlled system was activated under dark condition. We anticipate that our work would not only pave the way for cell lysis through a convenient biological way in fermentation industry, but also provide a paradigm for applying the light-controlled system in other fields of biotech industry.