Cell growth is inhibited by abiotic stresses during industrial processes, which is a limitation of microbial cell factories. Microbes with robust phenotypes are critical for its maximizing the yield of the target products in industrial biotechnology. Currently, there are several reports on the enhanced production of industrial metabolite through the introduction of Deinococcal genes into host cells, which confers cellular robustness. Deinococcus is known for its unique genetic function thriving in extreme environments such as radiation, UV, and oxidants. In this study, we established that Deinococcus proteolyticus showed greater resistance to oxidation and UV-C than commonly used D. radiodurans. By screening the genomic library of D. proteolyticus, we isolated a gene (deipr_0871) encoding a response regulator, which not only enhanced oxidative stress, but also promoted the growth of the recombinant E. coli strain. The transcription analysis indicated that the heterologous expression of deipr_0871 upregulated oxidative-stress-related genes such as ahpC and sodA, and acetyl-CoA-accumulation-associated genes via soxS regulon. Deipr_0871 was applied to improve the production of the valuable metabolite, poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), in the synthetic E. coli strain, which lead to the remarkably higher PHB than the control strain. Therefore, the stress tolerance gene from D. proteolyticus should be used in the modification of E. coli for the production of PHB and other biomaterials.
Keywords: Deinococcus proteolyticus; PHB; oxidative stress; response regulator.