Dataset Information

Harnessing a previously unidentified capability of bacterial allosteric transcription factors for sensing diverse small molecules in vitro.

ABSTRACT: A plethora of bacterial allosteric transcription factors (aTFs) have been identified to sense a variety of small molecules. Introduction of a novel aTF-based approach to sense diverse small molecules in vitro will signify a broad series of detection applications. Here, we found that aTFs could interact with their nicked DNA binding sites. Building from this new finding, we designed and implemented a novel aTF-based nicked DNA template-assisted signal transduction system (aTF-NAST) by using the competition between aTFs and T4 DNA ligase to bind to the nicked DNA. This aTF-NAST could reliably and modularly transduce the signal of small molecules recognized by aTFs to the ligated DNA signal, thus enabling the small molecules to be measured via various mature and robust DNA detection methods. Coupling this aTF-NAST with three DNA detection methods, we demonstrated nine novel biosensors for the detection of an antiseptic 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, a disease marker uric acid and an antibiotic tetracycline. These biosensors show impressive sensitivity and robustness in real-life analysis, highlighting the great potential of our aTF-NAST for biosensing applications.

SUBMITTER: Cao J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6261655 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Harnessing a previously unidentified capability of bacterial allosteric transcription factors for sensing diverse small molecules in vitro.

Cao Jiaqian J Yao Yongpeng Y Fan Keqiang K Tan Gaoyi G Xiang Wensheng W Xia Xuekui X Li Shanshan S Wang Weishan W Zhang Lixin L

Science advances 20181128 11

A plethora of bacterial allosteric transcription factors (aTFs) have been identified to sense a variety of small molecules. Introduction of a novel aTF-based approach to sense diverse small molecules in vitro will signify a broad series of detection applications. Here, we found that aTFs could interact with their nicked DNA binding sites. Building from this new finding, we designed and implemented a novel aTF-based nicked DNA template-assisted signal transduction system (aTF-NAST) by using the c ...[more]

PMID: 30498782

Similar Datasets

Project description:Interrupted adenylation (A) domains are key to the immense structural diversity seen in the nonribosomal peptide (NRP) class of natural products (NPs). Interrupted A domains are A domains that contain within them the catalytic portion of another domain, most commonly a methylation (M) domain. It has been well documented that methylation events occur with extreme specificity on either the backbone (N-) or side chain (O- or S-) of the amino acid (or amino acid-like) building blocks of NRPs. Here, through taxonomic and phylogenetic analyses as well as multiple sequence alignments, we evaluated the similarities and differences between interrupted A domains. We probed their taxonomic distribution amongst bacterial organisms, their evolutionary relatedness, and described conserved motifs of each type of M domain found to be embedded in interrupted A domains. Additionally, we categorized interrupted A domains and the M domains within them into a total of seven distinct families and six different types, respectively. The families of interrupted A domains include two new families, 6 and 7, that possess new architectures. Rather than being interrupted between the previously described a2-a3 or a8-a9 of the ten conserved A domain sequence motifs (a1-a10), family 6 contains an M domain between a6-a7, a previously unknown interruption site. Family 7 demonstrates that di-interrupted A domains exist in Nature, containing an M domain between a2-a3 as well as one between a6-a7, displaying a novel arrangement. These in-depth investigations of amino acid sequences deposited in the NCBI database highlighted the prevalence of interrupted A domains in bacterial organisms, with each family of interrupted A domains having a different taxonomic distribution. They also emphasized the importance of utilizing a broad range of bacteria for NP discovery. Categorization of the families of interrupted A domains and types of M domains allowed for a better understanding of the trends of naturally occurring interrupted A domains, which illuminated patterns and insights on how to harness them for future engineering studies.

Dataset Information

Harnessing a previously unidentified capability of bacterial allosteric transcription factors for sensing diverse small molecules in vitro.

Publications

Harnessing a previously unidentified capability of bacterial allosteric transcription factors for sensing diverse small molecules in vitro.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets