Curated Optogenetic Publication Database

Abstract: Dynamic metabolic engineering is a strategy to switch key metabolic pathways in microbial cell factories from biomass generation to accumulation of target products. Here, we demonstrate that optogenetic intervention in the cell cycle of budding yeast can be used to increase production of valuable chemicals, such as the terpenoid β-carotene or the nucleoside analog cordycepin. We achieved optogenetic cell-cycle arrest in the G2/M phase by controlling activity of the ubiquitin-proteasome system hub Cdc48. To analyze the metabolic capacities in the cell cycle arrested yeast strain, we studied their proteomes by timsTOF mass spectrometry. This revealed widespread, but highly distinct abundance changes of metabolic key enzymes. Integration of the proteomics data in protein-constrained metabolic models demonstrated modulation of fluxes directly associated with terpenoid production as well as metabolic subsystems involved in protein biosynthesis, cell wall synthesis, and cofactor biosynthesis. These results demonstrate that optogenetically triggered cell cycle intervention is an option to increase the yields of compounds synthesized in a cellular factory by reallocation of metabolic resources.

Abstract: Natural photoreceptors from plants and microorganisms are used for synthetic approaches to control cell behaviour. Light perception by the photoreceptor, often by a cofactor, induces a conformational change, which is transduced to the effector and regulates its activity. Synthetic combinations of photoreceptors and effectors resulted in a wealth of cellular events that are controlled by optogenetic tools. A general approach is to regulate protein abundance controlling either protein stability, protein biosynthesis or both with optogenetic tools.

Abstract: Protein quality mechanisms are fundamental for proteostasis of eukaryotic cells. Endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation (ERAD) is a well-studied pathway that ensures quality control of secretory and endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-resident proteins. Different branches of ERAD are involved in degradation of malfolded secretory proteins, depending on the localization of the misfolded part, the ER lumen (ERAD-L), the ER membrane (ERAD-M), and the cytosol (ERAD-C). Here we report that modification of several ER transmembrane proteins with the photosensitive degron (psd) module resulted in light-dependent degradation of the membrane proteins via the ERAD-C pathway. We found dependency on the ubiquitylation machinery including the ubiquitin-activating enzyme Uba1, the ubiquitin--conjugating enzymes Ubc6 and Ubc7, and the ubiquitin-protein ligase Doa10. Moreover, we found involvement of the Cdc48 AAA-ATPase complex members Ufd1 and Npl4, as well as the proteasome, in degradation of Sec62-myc-psd. Thus, our work shows that ERAD-C substrates can be systematically generated via synthetic degron constructs, which facilitates future investigations of the ERAD-C pathway.

Abstract: Synthetic tools for the control of protein function are valuable for biomedical research to characterize cellular functions of essential proteins or if a rapid switch in protein activity is necessary. The ability to tune protein activity precisely opens another level of investigations that is not available with gene deletion mutants. Control of protein stability is a versatile approach to influence the activity of a target protein by its cellular abundance. Diverse strategies have been developed to achieve efficient proteolysis using external inducers or differentiation-coupled signals. The latter is especially important for the inactivation of a protein during a developmental process. Recently, several approaches to achieve this have been engineered. In this article, we present current synthetic tools for regulation of protein stability that allow fine-tuning of protein abundance, their advantages and disadvantages with an emphasis on methods applicable in the context of cell differentiation and development. We give an outlook toward future developments and discuss main applications of these tools.