Breakthrough Optogenetic Method Boosts Bacterial Gene Expression Over 1000-Fold
BIOTECHNOLOGY
8/16/2024
Researchers at Bayreuth University have developed an innovative optogenetic approach that enables control of bacterial gene regulation at the mRNA level using blue light. This approach, called riboptoregulator, leverages the NmPAL photoreceptor to induce RNA refolding and translation of bacterial mRNAs optogenetically. When triggered by blue light, NmPAL disrupts the cis-repressed mRNA state, removing barriers to translation initiation and thereby increasing gene expression up to 30-fold. The riboptoregulator operates at the mRNA level, allowing for individual gene regulation and integration with other gene circuits for more flexible and precise expression control. In research published in Nucleic Acids Research in August 2024, the team successfully integrated the riboptoregulator with the pAurora2 circuit, achieving more than 1000-fold enhancement in bacterial gene expression. These findings open significant opportunities for applications in theranostics and synthetic biology, especially in controlling cellular processes with light.
