期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2020
卷号：117
期号：12
页码：6752-6761
DOI：10.1073/pnas.1918859117
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：A type of chromosome-free cell called SimCells (simple cells) has been generated from Escherichia coli , Pseudomonas putida , and Ralstonia eutropha. The removal of the native chromosomes of these bacteria was achieved by double-stranded breaks made by heterologous I-CeuI endonuclease and the degradation activity of endogenous nucleases. We have shown that the cellular machinery remained functional in these chromosome-free SimCells and was able to process various genetic circuits. This includes the glycolysis pathway (composed of 10 genes) and inducible genetic circuits. It was found that the glycolysis pathway significantly extended longevity of SimCells due to its ability to regenerate ATP and NADH/NADPH. The SimCells were able to continuously express synthetic genetic circuits for 10 d after chromosome removal. As a proof of principle, we demonstrated that SimCells can be used as a safe agent (as they cannot replicate) for bacterial therapy. SimCells were used to synthesize catechol (a potent anticancer drug) from salicylic acid to inhibit lung, brain, and soft-tissue cancer cells. SimCells represent a simplified synthetic biology chassis that can be programmed to manufacture and deliver products safely without interference from the host genome..
