Project Details
Projekt
MiMiCry: Mimicking Nature by Continuous Production of Antimicrobials in Mixed Cultures of Synthetic Strains
Subject Area
Biological Process Engineering
Term
since 2019
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 427751089
MiMiCry+ builds on the successful development of a bi-directional mutualistic robust Escherichia coli co-culture that has been engineered and thoroughly tested under defined bioreactor conditions during the first funding phase of SPP2170. MiMiCry+ advances the current approach of anthranilate depending L-tryptophan production from glucose by integrating genes for the production of violacein (VIO), a violet pigment with antimicrobial, antiviral, antitumoral, and antiparasitic functionality. MiMiCry+ applies novel strain engineering approaches such as MAGE supported strain evolution, equilibrated chromosomal gene expression, and the integration of non-PTS dependent glucose uptake systems to fine tune the traits of the co-culture for their optimal use in bioreactors. Related research also encompasses the re-installation of E. coli’s capacity to attach on carriers which will be further exploited in complementing engineering studies. Different operational modes and bioreactor settings will be tested, each aiming to install the best cultivation and bioreactor condition to meet the challenging intrinsic demand of optimum cellular growth at 37°C tightly linked to necessarily low product formation at 20-25°C. The successful two-compartment stirred tank reactor setting of MiMiCry will be optimized by replacing one stirred tank with a bubble column using immobilized cells at low temperature. Based on the promising results of MiMiCry, MiMiCry+ advances by testing a single compartment with a productive E. coli biofilm which is fed by growing anthranilate producers. All approaches will be quantitatively analyzed via cellular and process models enabling model-driven scaling up.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
