This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A synthetic biology technology has been developed that converts easily degraded messenger RNA (mRNA) into a ring-shaped form inside microbial cells, increasing protein production. A research team led by Professor Sang Woo Seo of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Seoul National University College of Engineering has developed a synthetic biology technology that converts linear mRNA into a circular form inside microbial cells, simultaneously increasing mRNA stability and protein production efficiency.
The team named the technology CRESEnT (Circular RNA Expression for Stable and Enhanced Translation). Compared with a control in which circularization did not occur, CRESEnT increased fluorescent protein production by up to 5.95-fold and intracellular mRNA levels by 3.95-fold. The amount of protein produced per mRNA molecule also increased by 1.51-fold.
The researchers confirmed the technology's effectiveness not only in Escherichia coli but also in Bacillus subtilis and Corynebacterium glutamicum, and applied it to the production of valuable compounds including flaviolin, itaconic acid, lycopene and violacein. The findings are published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research. Microorganisms are widely used as "cell factories" to produce biofuels, environmentally friendly chemicals, pharmaceutical ingredients and other products.
Amino acids used in food seasonings and livestock feed are also produced through microbial fermentation on a scale of millions of tons annually. The productivity of these cell factories depends on whether the enzymes needed to produce the target compounds can be generated in sufficient quantities inside the cells. Until now, efforts to increase gene expression have focused primarily on controlling elements involved in the initial stages of reading genetic information, such as promoters and ribosome-binding sites (RBSs).
However, mRNA itself—the blueprint for protein production—is highly unstable. Unlike mRNA in eukaryotic cells, bacterial mRNA lacks protective structures at its ends, such as a cap or poly(A) tail, leaving it readily exposed to intracellular RNA-degrading enzymes, or RNases. As a result, bacterial mRNA is rapidly degraded, with a lifespan of only a few minutes.
This rapid degradation of mRNA is advantageous for microorganisms in nature, where they must adapt quickly to environmental changes. In cell factories, however, where a specific substance must be produced continuously under controlled conditions, the rapid disappearance of mRNA—the production blueprint—can reduce production efficiency. Consequently, extending the length of time that mRNA remains intact has emerged as an important factor in improving productivity.
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