| Abstract [eng] |
Gentisic acid is a member of hydroxybenzoic acids, known for its useful effects on human health, containing anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-cancer, cardioprotective, hepatoprotective, and neuroprotective activities. Gentisic acid is applied in cosmetics industry, also for treatment of skin pigmentary disorders. It can be utilized as a biomarker for early detection of renal cell carcinoma, this acid itself and its derivatives are used to synthesize pharmaceuticals. Conventionally, gentisic acid is produced chemically from hydroquinone or salicylic acid. Although novel microorganism-based production methods are being developed to achieve biosynthesis from sustainable sources. Phototrophic purple bacteria, as well as chemolithoautotrophic bacterium C. necator, are able of capturing CO2 for synthesis of various compounds. However, the lack of high-throughput methods for detection of gentisic acid limits development procedures towards sustainable production. Therefore, to expedite the enzyme and strain screening for the microbial pathway engineering towards production of gentisic acid, this study reports on the development and characterization of gentisic acid-inducible biosensor. Here, the transcription factor-based inducible gene expression system, originating from C. necator, is identified, its genetics and mechanism of action are investigated. Besides, the identified inducible system is engineered and developed for functioning in E. coli, and biosensor is characterized by determining its specificity and sensitivity. Currently, we are developing the identified system for application as gentisic acid-inducible biosensor in purple phototrophic bacteria. |
