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Alkaliphiles are considered more suitable chassis than traditional neutrophiles due to their excellent resistance to microbial contamination. Alkaliphilic Bacillus sp. N16‐5, an industrially interesting strain with great potential for the production of lactic acid and alkaline polysaccharide hydrolases, can only be engineered genetically by the laborious and time‐consuming homologous recombination. In this study, we reported the successful development of a CRISPR/Cas9‐based genome editing system with high efficiency for single‐gene deletion, large gene fragment deletion and exogenous DNA chromosomal insertion. Moreover, based on a catalytically dead variant of Cas9 (dCas9), we also developed a CRISPRi system to efficiently regulate gene expression. Finally, this efficient genome editing system was successfully applied to engineer the xylose metabolic pathway for the efficient bioproduction of D‐lactic acid. Compared with the wild‐type Bacillus sp. N16‐5, the final engineered strain with XylR deletion and AraE overexpression achieved 34.3% and 27.7% increases in xylose consumption and D‐lactic acid production respectively. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the development and application of CRISPR/Cas9‐based genome editing system in alkaliphilic Bacillus, and this study will significantly facilitate functional genomic studies and genome manipulation in alkaliphilic Bacillus, laying a foundation for the development of more robust microbial chassis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Nα‐acetyl‐α‐lysine was found as a new type of compatible solutes that acted as an organic cytoprotectant in the strain of Salinicoccus halodurans H3B36. A novel lysine Nα‐acetyltransferase gene (shkat), encoding an enzyme that catalysed the acetylation of lysine exclusively at α position, was identified from this moderate halophilic strain and expressed in Escherichia coli. Sequence analysis indicated ShKAT contained a highly conserved pyrophosphate‐binding loop (Arg‐Gly‐Asn‐Gly‐Asn‐Gly), which was a signature of the GNAT superfamily. ShKAT exclusively recognized free amino acids as substrate, including lysine and other basic amino acids. The enzyme showed a wide range of optimal pH value and was tolerant to high‐alkali and high‐salinity conditions. As a new member of the GNAT superfamily, the ShKAT was the first enzyme recognized free lysine as substrate. We believe this work gives an expanded perspective of the GNAT superfamily, and reveals great potential of the shkat gene to be applied in genetic engineering for resisting extreme conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Propionic acid (PA) has been widely used as a food preservative and chemical intermediate in the agricultural and pharmaceutical industries. Environmental and friendly biotechnological production of PA from biomass has been considered as an alternative to the traditional petrochemical route. However, because PA is a strong inhibitor of cell growth, the biotechnological host should be not only able to produce the compound but the host should be robust. In this study, we identified key PA tolerance factors in Pseudomonas putida KT2440 strain by comparative transcriptional analysis in the presence or absence of PA stress. The identified major facilitator superfamily (MFS) transporter gene cluster of PP_1271, PP_1272 and PP_1273 was experimentally verified to be involved in PA tolerance in P. putida strains. Overexpression of this cluster improved tolerance to PA in a PA producing strain, what is useful to further engineer this robust platform not only for PA synthesis but for the production of other weak acids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pseudomonas putida KT2440 is becoming a new robust metabolic chassis for biotechnological applications, due to its metabolic versatility, low nutritional requirements and biosafety status. We have previously engineered P. putida KT2440 to be an efficient propionate producer from L-threonine, although the internal enzymes converting propionyl-CoA to propionate are not clear. In this study, we thoroughly investigated 13 genes annotated as potential thioesterases in the KT2440 mutant. One thioesterase encoded by locus tag PP_4975 was verified to be the major contributor to propionate production in vivo. Deletion of PP_4975 significantly decreased propionate production, whereas the performance was fully restored by gene complement. Compared with thioesterase HiYciA from Haemophilus influenza, thioesterase PP_4975 showed a faster substrate conversion rate in vitro. Thus, this study expands our knowledge on acyl-CoA thioesterases in P. putida KT2440 and may also reveal a new target for further engineering the strain to improve propionate production performance., (© 2021 The Authors. Microbial Biotechnology published by Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)