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A curcumin direct protein (DiPro) biosensor for cell-free prototyping

Lesniewska, A.; Griffin, G.; Freemont, P. K.; Polizzi, K. M.; Moore, S. J.

2021-09-22 synthetic biology
10.1101/2021.09.22.461347 bioRxiv
Show abstract

In synthetic biology, biosensors are routinely coupled to a gene expression cascade for detecting small molecules and physical signals. We posit that an alternative direct protein (DiPro) biosensor mechanism, could provide a new opportunity for rapid detection of specific chemicals. Herein, we reveal a fluorescent curcumin DiPro biosensor, based on the Escherichia coli double bond reductase (EcCurA) as a detection system. We characterise the EcCurA DiPro biosensor and propose enhanced curcumin fluorescence is generated through {pi}-{pi} stacking between protein and ligand. Using a cell-free synthetic biology approach, we use the EcCurA DiPro biosensor to fine tune 10 reaction parameters (cofactor, substrate, and enzyme levels) for cell-free biosynthesis, assisted through acoustic liquid handling robotics. Overall, we increase EcCurA-curcumin fluorescence by 80-fold. We speculate that a generic DiPro biosensor fluorescence mechanism can be further exploited for a wider range of chemicals that share intrinsic fluorescence and have a suitable binding protein.

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