Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://umt-ir.umt.edu.my:8080/handle/123456789/5550
Title: Heterologous expression of the Streptococcus pneumoniae yoeB and pezT toxin genes is lethal in Chlorella vulgaris
Authors: Shet, Lee Ng
Jennifer Ann Harikrishna
Fauziah Abu Bakar
ChewChieng Yeo
Thye San Cha
Keywords: Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation
Toxin-antitoxin genes
Two-component expression system
XVE inducible system
17-β-Estradiol
Microalgae-based biofuel
Issue Date: 2016
Publisher: Algal Research
Citation: Vol.19; 21-29 p.
Abstract: Chlorella vulgaris is a eukaryotic microalga with potential for the production of biofuels. However, its thick and rigid cell wall is an impediment to cost-effective, large-scale harvesting of biofuels from these cells. Bacterial toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems, comprising of a stable proteic toxin and its labile cognate antitoxin, have no known homologs in eukaryotic cells. Several bacterial TA toxins have been found to be lethal when expressed in eukaryotes such as yeasts, animal and human cell lines. In this study, the functionality of the yoeBSpn and pezT toxin genes from the Gram-positive bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae in C. vulgaris was investigated using a two-component inducible expression system. The yoeBSpn and pezT toxin genes were each cloned as green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion constructs and introduced into C. vulgaris by Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated co-transformation with recombinant activator and responder vectors. Following induction for the expression of the toxin-GFP fusion transgenes, GFP fluorescence was observed in the transformed C. vulgaris cellswhich also showed signs of cellular damage and lysis. This is the first report of the lethal expression of bacterial TA toxins in eukaryotic microalgae, which can form the basis of a novel method for harvesting of microalgal cellular contents.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/5550
ISSN: 22119264
Appears in Collections:Journal Articles



Items in UMT-IR are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.