title: Engineering PQS biosynthesis pathway for enhancement of bioelectricity production in pseudomonas aeruginosa microbial fuel cells.
abstract: The biosynthesis of the redox shuttle, phenazines, in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an ubiquitous microorganism in wastewater microflora, is regulated by the 2-heptyl-3,4-dihydroxyquinoline (PQS) quorum-sensing system. However, PQS inhibits anaerobic growth of P. aeruginosa. We constructed a P. aeruginosa strain that produces higher concentrations of phenazines under anaerobic conditions by over-expressing the PqsE effector in a PQS negative ΔpqsC mutant. The engineered strain exhibited an improved electrical performance in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and potentiostat-controlled electrochemical cells with an approximate five-fold increase of maximum current density relative to the parent strain. Electrochemical analysis showed that the current increase correlates with an over-synthesis of phenazines. These results therefore demonstrate that targeting microbial cell-to-cell communication by genetic engineering is a suitable technique to improve power output of bioelectrochemical systems.
authors.affiliation: Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Victor Bochuan
authors.initials: VB
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Song-Lin
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Chua
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Seviour
authors.forename: Victor J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Nesatyy
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marsili
authors.forename: Staffan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kjelleberg
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Givskov
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tolker-Nielsen
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Joachim Say Chye
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Loo
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources / Q000382:microbiology*; D018441:Biofilms; D053898:Biosynthetic Pathways / Q000235:genetics; D004560:Electricity; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D006912:Hydroxyquinolines / Q000378:metabolism*; D010619:Phenazines / Q000378:metabolism*; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000502:physiology*; D011710:Pyocyanine / Q000096:biosynthesis; D053038:Quorum Sensing / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D006912:Hydroxyquinolines; D010619:Phenazines; D011710:Pyocyanine