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中国生物工程杂志

China Biotechnology
China Biotechnology
China Biotechnology  2021, Vol. 41 Issue (6): 50-59    DOI: 10.13523/j.cb.2102020
    
Advances in Molecular Biological Methods to Improve Extracellular Electron Transport Efficiency of Electroactive Microorganisms
SHAO Ying-zhi1,CHE Jian2,CHENG Chi1,**(),JIANG Zhi-yang3,XUE Chuang1,**()
1 Dalian University of Technology, School of Bioengineering, Engineering Research Center of Application and Transformation for Synthetic Biology, Dalian 116024, China
2 Dalian Xinyulong Marine Biological Seed Technology Co., Ltd., Dalian 116222, China
3 Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China
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Abstract  

The efficiency of extracellular electron transfer between microbial cells and electrodes is a key factor limiting the development of microbial electrochemical technology, and the development of molecular biology has brought bright prospects for improving the efficiency of extracellular electron transfer. The results of engineering four representative electroactive microorganisms (Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Geobacter sulfurreducens and engineered Escherichia coli) in pure culture and mixed culture by means of molecular biology are reviewed. How molecular biology methods adopt corresponding improvement strategies for different electroactive microorganisms are explained, and future research directions are prospected.



Key words： Extracellular electron transfer      Electroactive microorganism      Molecular biology      Electroactive biofilm     
Received: 22 February 2021      Published: 06 July 2021
ZTFLH:  Q819  
Corresponding Authors: Chi CHENG,Chuang XUE     E-mail: cheng.chi@dlut.edu.cn;xue.1@dlut.edu.cn
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Ying-zhi SHAO
Jian CHE
Chi CHENG
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Chuang XUE
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SHAO Ying-zhi,CHE Jian,CHENG Chi,JIANG Zhi-yang,XUE Chuang. Advances in Molecular Biological Methods to Improve Extracellular Electron Transport Efficiency of Electroactive Microorganisms. China Biotechnology, 2021, 41(6): 50-59.

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https://manu60.magtech.com.cn/biotech/10.13523/j.cb.2102020     OR     https://manu60.magtech.com.cn/biotech/Y2021/V41/I6/50

Fig.1 The extracellular electron transfer mechanism of the three electroactive microorganisms
EAM Modification strategy Results of modification Reference
S. oneidensis
MR-1 		Overexpression of the NAD+ synthesis gene The maximum power output density was 4.4 times higher than that in the wild type and the coulomb efficiency was 1.5 times higher [24]
Overexpression of flaxin synthesis gene cluster (ribDCBAE) and metal reductase gene cluster (mtrCAB) The maximum current density in MFC increased by about 110% [25]
Increased electroactive biofilm thickness of MFC anode The maximum output power density is 18.8 times higher than that of the wild type [28]
Expressing a c-di-GMP synthase to increase cytoplasmic c-di-GMP level The high c-di-GMP strain had a higher Fe(III) reduction rate (21.58 vs 11.88 pmol/L of Fe(III)/h cell) and greater expression of genes that code for the proteins involved in the Mtr pathway [30]
Intelligent resource allocation based on quorum sensing The efficiency of extracellular electron transfer improved by 4.8 times [31]
P. aeruginosa Knocking out the global regulator RpoS Enhanced the formation of biofilm on the electrode [37]
Heterologous expression of global regulator gene IrrE Maximum power density increased by approximately 71% [39]
G. sulfurreducens Overexpression of polysaccharide synthetic gene GSU1501 The maximum current is 22.2% higher than the control strain [17]
Overexpression of PilA gene from G. metallireducens in G. sulfurreducens The conductivity is 5 000 times that of G. sulfurreducens and 1 million times that of G. uraniireducens [48]
Engineered E. coli Nine different soluble phenazineredox mediators that support efficient EET were added. A maximum mediated current density of(7.9 ± 0.9) μA/cm 2 with NR, followed by(6.2 ±0.6) μA/cm 2 with pyocyanin, and about 3.0 μA/cm 2 with no mediators [13]
Expression of the exogenous gene encoding NDH-2 inE. coli BL21(DE3) The total NAD(H) increased by 1.32 times [51]
Multiple-knockout of central metabolism genes The maximum output power is 1.5 times higher than the wild type [49]
Expression of FAD synthetic genes Compared with the parent strain, the yield of succinic acid produced by fumaric acid increased by about 60% [52]
Introduced the Mtr pathway into E. coli cells by expressing ccmABCDEFGH from E. coli Succinic acid yield increased by 6.32 mmol/L and coulomb efficiency increased by about 113% [50]
Inhibition of colanic acid synthesis gene (wcaF) Effectively control the overgrowth of biofilm [55]
Mixed culture E. coli-B. subtilis-S. oneidensis Glucose (11 mmol/L, total 0.28 g) was converted to electricity for more than 15 days with high energy conversion efficiency (up to 55.7%) [56]
K. pneumoniae-S. oneidensis The maximum power density is up to 19.9 mW/m2 [57]
E. coli-E. coli-S. oneidensis The electricity production exceeds 350 mV, and the electricity production time exceeds 100 hours [58]
Table 1 Summary table to improve EET efficiency of EAM
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