Engineering PQS biosynthesis pathway for enhancement of bioelectricity production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa microbial fuel cells

Victor Bochuan Wang; Song-Lin Chua; Bin Cao; Thomas Seviour; Victor J Nesatyy; Enrico Marsili; Staffan Kjelleberg; Michael Givskov; Tim Tolker-Nielsen; Hao Song; Joachim Say Chye Loo; Liang Yang

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0063129

Engineering PQS biosynthesis pathway for enhancement of bioelectricity production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa microbial fuel cells

Victor Bochuan Wang, Song-Lin Chua, Bin Cao, Thomas Seviour, Victor J Nesatyy, Enrico Marsili, Staffan Kjelleberg, Michael Givskov, Tim Tolker-Nielsen, Hao Song, Joachim Say Chye Loo, Liang Yang

60 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The biosynthesis of the redox shuttle, phenazines, in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an ubiquitous microorganism in wastewater microflora, is regulated by the 2-heptyl-3,4-dihydroxyquinoline (PQS) quorum-sensing system. However, PQS inhibits anaerobic growth of P. aeruginosa. We constructed a P. aeruginosa strain that produces higher concentrations of phenazines under anaerobic conditions by over-expressing the PqsE effector in a PQS negative ΔpqsC mutant. The engineered strain exhibited an improved electrical performance in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and potentiostat-controlled electrochemical cells with an approximate five-fold increase of maximum current density relative to the parent strain. Electrochemical analysis showed that the current increase correlates with an over-synthesis of phenazines. These results therefore demonstrate that targeting microbial cell-to-cell communication by genetic engineering is a suitable technique to improve power output of bioelectrochemical systems.

Original language	English
Article number	e63129
Journal	PLOS ONE
Volume	8
Issue number	5
Pages (from-to)	e63129
Number of pages	7
ISSN	1932-6203
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0063129
Publication status	Published - 20 May 2013

Keywords

Bioelectric Energy Sources
Biofilms
Biosynthetic Pathways
Electricity
Genetic Engineering
Hydroxyquinolines
Phenazines
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Pyocyanine
Quorum Sensing

Access to Document

10.1371/journal.pone.0063129

Cite this

Wang, V. B., Chua, S-L., Cao, B., Seviour, T., Nesatyy, V. J., Marsili, E., Kjelleberg, S., Givskov, M., Tolker-Nielsen, T., Song, H., Loo, J. S. C., & Yang, L. (2013). Engineering PQS biosynthesis pathway for enhancement of bioelectricity production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa microbial fuel cells. PLOS ONE, 8(5), e63129. [e63129]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0063129

@article{77fa51c464fa47d5a14f0305a4dade27,

title = "Engineering PQS biosynthesis pathway for enhancement of bioelectricity production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa microbial fuel cells",

abstract = "The biosynthesis of the redox shuttle, phenazines, in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an ubiquitous microorganism in wastewater microflora, is regulated by the 2-heptyl-3,4-dihydroxyquinoline (PQS) quorum-sensing system. However, PQS inhibits anaerobic growth of P. aeruginosa. We constructed a P. aeruginosa strain that produces higher concentrations of phenazines under anaerobic conditions by over-expressing the PqsE effector in a PQS negative ΔpqsC mutant. The engineered strain exhibited an improved electrical performance in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and potentiostat-controlled electrochemical cells with an approximate five-fold increase of maximum current density relative to the parent strain. Electrochemical analysis showed that the current increase correlates with an over-synthesis of phenazines. These results therefore demonstrate that targeting microbial cell-to-cell communication by genetic engineering is a suitable technique to improve power output of bioelectrochemical systems.",

keywords = "Bioelectric Energy Sources, Biofilms, Biosynthetic Pathways, Electricity, Genetic Engineering, Hydroxyquinolines, Phenazines, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pyocyanine, Quorum Sensing",

author = "Wang, {Victor Bochuan} and Song-Lin Chua and Bin Cao and Thomas Seviour and Nesatyy, {Victor J} and Enrico Marsili and Staffan Kjelleberg and Michael Givskov and Tim Tolker-Nielsen and Hao Song and Loo, {Joachim Say Chye} and Liang Yang",

year = "2013",

month = may,

day = "20",

doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0063129",

language = "English",

volume = "8",

pages = "e63129",

journal = "PLoS Computational Biology",

issn = "1932-6203",

publisher = "Public Library of Science",

number = "5",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Engineering PQS biosynthesis pathway for enhancement of bioelectricity production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa microbial fuel cells

AU - Wang, Victor Bochuan

AU - Chua, Song-Lin

AU - Cao, Bin

AU - Seviour, Thomas

AU - Nesatyy, Victor J

AU - Marsili, Enrico

AU - Kjelleberg, Staffan

AU - Givskov, Michael

AU - Tolker-Nielsen, Tim

AU - Song, Hao

AU - Loo, Joachim Say Chye

AU - Yang, Liang

PY - 2013/5/20

Y1 - 2013/5/20

N2 - The biosynthesis of the redox shuttle, phenazines, in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an ubiquitous microorganism in wastewater microflora, is regulated by the 2-heptyl-3,4-dihydroxyquinoline (PQS) quorum-sensing system. However, PQS inhibits anaerobic growth of P. aeruginosa. We constructed a P. aeruginosa strain that produces higher concentrations of phenazines under anaerobic conditions by over-expressing the PqsE effector in a PQS negative ΔpqsC mutant. The engineered strain exhibited an improved electrical performance in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and potentiostat-controlled electrochemical cells with an approximate five-fold increase of maximum current density relative to the parent strain. Electrochemical analysis showed that the current increase correlates with an over-synthesis of phenazines. These results therefore demonstrate that targeting microbial cell-to-cell communication by genetic engineering is a suitable technique to improve power output of bioelectrochemical systems.

AB - The biosynthesis of the redox shuttle, phenazines, in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an ubiquitous microorganism in wastewater microflora, is regulated by the 2-heptyl-3,4-dihydroxyquinoline (PQS) quorum-sensing system. However, PQS inhibits anaerobic growth of P. aeruginosa. We constructed a P. aeruginosa strain that produces higher concentrations of phenazines under anaerobic conditions by over-expressing the PqsE effector in a PQS negative ΔpqsC mutant. The engineered strain exhibited an improved electrical performance in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and potentiostat-controlled electrochemical cells with an approximate five-fold increase of maximum current density relative to the parent strain. Electrochemical analysis showed that the current increase correlates with an over-synthesis of phenazines. These results therefore demonstrate that targeting microbial cell-to-cell communication by genetic engineering is a suitable technique to improve power output of bioelectrochemical systems.

KW - Bioelectric Energy Sources

KW - Biofilms

KW - Biosynthetic Pathways

KW - Electricity

KW - Genetic Engineering

KW - Hydroxyquinolines

KW - Phenazines

KW - Pseudomonas aeruginosa

KW - Pyocyanine

KW - Quorum Sensing

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0063129

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0063129

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 23700414

SN - 1932-6203

VL - 8

SP - e63129

JO - PLoS Computational Biology

JF - PLoS Computational Biology

IS - 5

M1 - e63129

ER -

Engineering PQS biosynthesis pathway for enhancement of bioelectricity production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa microbial fuel cells

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this