Description: Photocaged Arabinose - A Novel Optogenetic Switch for Rapid and Gradual Control of Microbial Gene Expression

This title appears in the Scientific Report : 2016

Photocaged Arabinose - A Novel Optogenetic Switch for Rapid and Gradual Control of Microbial Gene Expression

Controlling cellular functions by light allows simple triggering of biological processes in a non-invasive fashion with high spatiotemporal resolution. In this context, light-regulated gene expression has enormous potential for achieving optogenetic control over almost any cellular process. Here, we...

Personal Name(s):	Binder, Dennis
	Bier, Claus / Grünberger, Alexander / Drobietz, Dagmar / Hage-Hülsmann, Jennifer / Wandrey, Georg / Büchs, Jochen / Kohlheyer, Dietrich / Loeschcke, Anita / Wiechert, Wolfgang / Jaeger, Karl-Erich / Pietruszka, Jörg / Drepper, Thomas (Corresponding author)
Contributing Institute:	Institut für Molekulare Enzymtechnologie (HHUD); IMET Biotechnologie; IBG-1 Institut für Bioorganische Chemie (HHUD); IBOC
Published in:	ChemBioChem, 17 (2016) 4, S. 296-299
Imprint:	Weinheim Wiley-VCH 2016
DOI:	10.1002/cbic.201500609
PubMed ID:	26677142
Document Type:	Journal Article
Research Program:	Biotechnology
	Publikationsportal JuSER

Please use the identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cbic.201500609 in citations.

Controlling cellular functions by light allows simple triggering of biological processes in a non-invasive fashion with high spatiotemporal resolution. In this context, light-regulated gene expression has enormous potential for achieving optogenetic control over almost any cellular process. Here, we report on two novel one-step cleavable photocaged arabinose compounds, which were applied as light-sensitive inducers of transcription in bacteria. Exposure of caged arabinose to UV-A light resulted in rapid activation of protein production, as demonstrated for GFP and the complete violacein biosynthetic pathway. Moreover, single-cell analysis revealed that intrinsic heterogeneity of arabinose-mediated induction of gene expression was overcome when using photocaged arabinose. We have thus established a novel phototrigger for synthetic bio(techno)logy applications that enables precise and homogeneous control of bacterial target gene expression.