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- Motwalli, Olaa, et al.
(författare)
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BioPS: System for screening and assessment of biofuel-production potential of cyanobacteria
- 2018
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Ingår i: PLoS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203 .- 1932-6203. ; 13:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cyanobacteria are one of the target groups of organisms explored for production of free fatty acids (FFAs) as biofuel precursors. Experimental evaluation of cyanobacterial potential for FFA production is costly and time consuming. Thus, computational approaches for comparing and ranking cyanobacterial strains for their potential to produce biofuel based on the characteristics of their predicted proteomes can be of great importance. Results To enable such comparison and ranking, and to assist biotechnology developers and researchers in selecting strains more likely to be successfully engineered for the FFA production, we developed the Biofuel Producer Screen (BioPS) platform (http://www.cbrc. kaust.edu.sa/biops). BioPS relies on the estimation of the predicted proteome makeup of cyanobacterial strains to produce and secrete FFAs, based on the analysis of well-studied cyanobacterial strains with known FFA production profiles. The system links results back to various external repositories such as KEGG, UniProt and GOLD, making it easier for users to explore additional related information. Conclusion To our knowledge, BioPS is the first tool that screens and evaluates cyanobacterial strains for their potential to produce and secrete FFAs based on strain's predicted proteome characteristics, and rank strains based on that assessment. We believe that the availability of such a platform (comprising both a prediction tool and a repository of pre-evaluated stains) would be of interest to biofuel researchers. The BioPS system will be updated annually with information obtained from newly sequenced cyanobacterial genomes as they become available, as well as with new genes that impact FFA production or secretion.
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| 2. |
- Motwalli, Olaa, et al.
(författare)
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In silico screening for candidate chassis strains of free fatty acid-producing cyanobacteria
- 2017
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Ingår i: BMC Genomics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2164. ; 18:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Finding a source from which high-energy-density biofuels can be derived at an industrial scale has become an urgent challenge for renewable energy production. Some microorganisms can produce free fatty acids (FFA) as precursors towards such high-energy-density biofuels. In particular, photosynthetic cyanobacteria are capable of directly converting carbon dioxide into FFA. However, current engineered strains need several rounds of engineering to reach the level of production of FFA to be commercially viable thus new chassis strains that require less engineering are needed. Although more than 120 cyanobacterial genomes are sequenced, the natural potential of these strains for FFA production and excretion has not been systematically estimated. Results: Here we present the FFA SC (FFASC), an in silico screening method that evaluates the potential for FFA production and excretion of cyanobacterial strains based on their proteomes. A literature search allowed for the compilation of 64 proteins, most of which influence FFA production and a few of which affect FFA excretion. The proteins are classified into 49 orthologous groups (OGs) that helped create rules used in the scoring/ranking of algorithms developed to estimate the potential for FFA production and excretion of an organism. Among 125 cyanobacterial strains, FFASC identified 20 candidate chassis strains that rank in their FFA producing and excreting potential above the specifically engineered reference strain, Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002. We further show that the top ranked cyanobacterial strains are unicellular and primarily include Prochlorococcus (order Prochlorales) and marine Synechococcus (order Chroococcales) that cluster phylogenetically. Moreover, two principal categories of enzymes were shown to influence FFA production the most: those ensuring precursor availability for the biosynthesis of lipids, and those involved in handling the oxidative stress associated to FFA synthesis. Conclusion: To our knowledge FFASC is the first in silico method to screen cyanobacteria proteomes for their potential to produce and excrete FFA, as well as the first attempt to parameterize the criteria derived from genetic characteristics that are favorable/non-favorable for this purpose. Thus, FFASC helps focus experimental evaluation only on the most promising cyanobacteria.
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| 3. |
- Motwalli, Olaa, et al.
(författare)
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PATHcre8: A Tool That Facilitates the Searching for Heterologous Biosynthetic Routes
- 2020
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Ingår i: ACS Synthetic Biology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 2161-5063. ; 9:12, s. 3217-3227
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Developing computational tools that can facilitate the rational design of cell factories producing desired products at increased yields is challenging, as the tool needs to take into account that the preferred host organism usually has compounds that are consumed by competing reactions that reduce the yield of the desired product. On the other hand, the preferred host organisms may not have the native metabolic reactions needed to produce the compound of interest; thus, the computational tool needs to identify the metabolic reactions that will most efficiently produce the desired product. In this regard, we developed the generic tool PATHcre8 to facilitate an optimized search for heterologous biosynthetic pathway routes. PATHcre8 finds and ranks biosynthesis routes in a large number of organisms, including Cyanobacteria. The tool ranks the pathways based on feature scores that reflect reaction thermodynamics, the potentially toxic products in the pathway (compound toxicity), intermediate products in the pathway consumed by competing reactions (product consumption), and host-specific information such as enzyme copy number. A comparison with several other similar tools shows that PATHcre8 is more efficient in ranking functional pathways. To illustrate the effectiveness of PATHcre8, we further provide case studies focused on isoprene production and the biodegradation of cocaine. PATHcre8 is free for academic and nonprofit users and can be accessed at https://www.cbrc.kaust.edu.sa/pathcre8/.
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