Designing yeast as plant-like hyperaccumulators for heavy metals
Name
s41467-019-13093-6.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
1.2 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
ffce54fc19f268d7fc80b33a21897907
Author(s)
Sun, George L.
Reynolds, Erin. E.
Belcher, Angela M.
Date Issued
November 8, 2019
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Citation
Sun, George L., Erin.E. Reynolds and Angela M. Belcher. "Designing yeast as plant-like hyperaccumulators for heavy metals." Nature Communications 10 (2019): 5080 © 2019 The Author(s)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Hyperaccumulators typically refer to plants that absorb and tolerate elevated amounts of heavy metals. Due to their unique metal trafficking abilities, hyperaccumulators are promising candidates for bioremediation applications. However, compared to bacteria-based bioremediation systems, plant life cycle is long and growing conditions are difficult to maintain hindering their adoption. Herein, we combine the robust growth and engineerability of bacteria with the unique waste management mechanisms of plants by using a more tractable platform-the common baker’s yeast-to create plant-like hyperaccumulators. Through overexpression of metal transporters and engineering metal trafficking pathways, engineered yeast strains are able to sequester metals at concentrations 10–100 times more than established hyperaccumulator thresholds for chromium, arsenic, and cadmium. Strains are further engineered to be selective for either cadmium or strontium removal, specifically for radioactive Sr90. Overall, this work presents a systematic approach for transforming yeast into metal hyperaccumulators that are as effective as their plant counterparts.
Subjects
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
General Physics and Astronomy
General Chemistry
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13093-6
