Engineering bacterial two-component system PmrA/PmrB to sense lanthanide ions.
The  Salmonella  PmrA/PmrB two-component system uses an iron(III)-binding motif on the cell surface to sense the environmental or host ferric level and regulate PmrA-controlled gene expression. We replaced the iron(III)-binding motif with a lanthanide-binding peptide sequence that is known to selectively recognize trivalent lanthanide ions. The newly engineered two-component system (PmrA/PmrB) can effectively sense lanthanide ion and regulate gene expression in  E. coli . This work not only provides the first known lanthanide-based sensing and response in live cells but also demonstrates that the PmrA/PmrB system is a suitable template for future synthetic biology efforts to construct bacteria that can sense and respond to other metal ions in remediation or sequestration.
Department of Chemistry and Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
Haihua
H
Liang
Xin
X
Deng
Mike
M
Bosscher
Quanjiang
Q
Ji
Mark P
MP
Jensen
Chuan
C
He
D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005290:Ferric Compounds / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D007477:Ions / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D028581:Lanthanoid Series Elements / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D015202:Protein Engineering; D012486:Salmonella typhimurium / Q000235:genetics; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D005290:Ferric Compounds; D007477:Ions; D028581:Lanthanoid Series Elements; D010455:Peptides; C409039:PmrB protein, bacteria; D014157:Transcription Factors; C081902:pmrA protein, Bacteria