Team:SHSID/Results
Results
Plasmids containing target genes, AsADC, SPE1, and speB
are successfully synthesized from 10 DNA segments. Segments 0 to 2 contain promoter PPGK1, target gene
AsADC, and terminator TADH1. Segments 3 to 5 contain promoter PTEF1, target gene SPE1, and terminator TTEF1.
Segments 6 to 8 contain promoter PTDH3, target gene speB, and terminator TCYC1. Segment 9 is the backbone
plasmid pYES2. Transforming this plasmid into yeast will increase the yield of putrescine.
The first round of PCR
The first round of PCR amplifies DNA segments 0 to 7 separately.
The first round of PCR amplifies DNA segments 0 to 7 separately.
Figure 1: Gel electrophoresis diagram. Lane 1 is segment 0. Lane 2 is segment 2. Lane 3 is
segment 3. Lane 4 is segment 4. Lane 5 is segment 5. Lane 6 is segment 6. Lane 7 is segment 1. Lane 8 is
segment 7.
On this gel electrophoresis diagram, all DNA segments were successfully amplified, and the band is on the
corresponding position to its number of base pairs.
The second round of PCR
The second round of PCR overlapped two DNA segments from 0 to 7.
Figure 2: Gel electrophoresis diagram. Lane 1 is segments 0 and 1. Lane 2 is segments 2 and 3. Lane 3 is
segments 4 and 5. Lane 4 is segments 6 and 7.
This result shows that the overlap PCR between two DNA segments was successful because the bands are in
their right position corresponding to the number of base pairs and relative to the ladder.
The third round of PCR
The third round of overlap PCR connects DNA segments 01 with 23, and 45 with 67.
The third round of overlap PCR connects DNA segments 01 with 23, and 45 with 67.
Figure 3: Gel electrophoresis diagram. Lane 1 is DNA segments 0 to 3. Lane 2 is DNA segments 4 to 7.
Lane 1 shows a correct and bright band for segments 0 to 3. However, although the band for DNA segments 4 to
7 in lane 2 has the correct band, the band is very weak, which means that the amount of this segment is not
enough to carry out the construction of plasmid. This is probably because segments 4 to 7 is longer than
segments 0 to 3, and the primer is not designed very well. More round of overlap will be needed to obtain
more segments of 4 to 7.
The fourth round of PCR
The fourth round of PCR amplifies segments 8 and 9, and overlapped segments 45 with 67 again.
Figure 4: Gel electrophoresis diagram. Lane 1 to 3 is segments 4567. Lane 4 to 6 is segment 8. Lane 7
to 9 is segments 9.
This result shows that the overlap PCR between segments 45 and 67 was successful. The PCR of segment 9 is
also successful. However, there are no clear bands shown in lane 4 to 6, indicating that the PCR of segment
8 is not successful.
Segment 8 was amplified using PCR again.
Figure 5: Gel electrophoresis diagram. Lane 1 to 3 is segment 8.
This result shows that there are bands on the right position corresponding to the number of base pairs, but
they are not clear and bright enough. The product of this round of PCR can be used in the construction of
plasmid.
The fifth round of PCR
The fifth round of PCR overlapped segment 67 with 8, and segment 4567 with 8.
Figure 6: Gel electrophoresis diagram. Lane 1, 3, 5 are segment 45678. Lane 2, 4, 6 are segment 678.
This figure shows that the overlap PCR of segments 67 and 8 was successful, while segments 4567 and 8 was
not successful. This is because segment 45678 is too long, which is difficult to carry out accurate overlap
PCR.
The sixth round of PCR
The sixth round of overlap PCR connected segments 4567 with 678, which is a modified version of overlap PCR
between 4567 and 8 in previous round.
Figure 7: Gel electrophoresis diagram. Lane 1 is segment 45678.
This result shows that the overlap PCR between segments 4567 and 678 was successful. This is because these
two segments have more overlapping base pairs, which ensures higher efficiency during overlap PCR.
Homologous recombination of 0 to 9 fragments
In order to obtain our target plasmid, there are multi-fragment assembly plan A and B. In plan A, PCR
amplification products of 0123, 456, 678 and 9 were recovered from gel and the corresponding recombinant
plasmids were transformed into competent cells for resistance screening of kana. In plan B, the sequence
fragments were 0123, 4567, 8 and 9. Five single colonies in plan A and one single colony in plan B were
picked up for further cultivate and plasmid extraction. Identification by electrophoresis showed that
plasmid 1,4,5 of plan A and 6 of plan B were the candidate with correct size, in which plasmid 5 of plan A
was confirmed by sequencing.
Figure 8: Gel electrophoresis diagram. Line 1-5 is plasmids 1-5 on plan A plate, in which the size of 1, 4,
and 5 are correct. Line 6 is plasmid 6 on the plan B plate with correct size. Line 7 is a negative control
plasmid.
Figure 9: Blast DNA sequences with theoretical sequences and actual sanger sequencing documents of
pYES2-ASADC-SPE1-SpeB. The blast result shows that the plasmid is constructed successfully.
And then, Plasmid 5 was transferred into BY4741 and AQ competent cells. For BY4741, the initial OD600 of
seed cells was 0.3, and then cells were collected when OD600 reached 0.9 after 3h of culture. The
transformed plasmid pYES2-ASADC-SPE1-SpeB was cultured on YPD20 with hygromycin B plates for 3 days.
Fermentation test
The clones were picked up into YPD20/Hyg test tube for cultivate and activation. In order to observe the
growth of fermentation strains, we set up negative control and test group, referred as NC and Test,
respectively. Each of them also includes a putrescine production group referred as NC+Arg*10 and
Test+Arg*10, respectively, whose medium was supplemented with 10 times Arg.
Figure 10. Growth curve of fermentation strains
As shown in the figure, the growth trend of the four groups was similar. It took 24 hours to reach the
stationary phase of growth and this stable period last up to 96 hours. Specifically, the overall growth of
NC+Arg*10 and Test+Ar*10g group was a little lower than that of NC and Test group perhaps due to the
pressure of high concentration of Arg.
At least 3 repeated small-scale metabolite production tests were carried out in YNB-SC medium (containing 10
times arginine raw material). 2ml supernatant (containing putrescine) of the 48h-metabolites after
centrifugation were analyzed by LC-MS.
Figure 11. The peak of putrescine detected by LC-MS.
The results showed that the peak of putrescine appeared at 32 min (as shown in the figure11), indicating
that the engineered strain we constructed successfully produced putrescine. However, the peak area is small,
and the output of putrescine is far below the factory mass production level. It is likely that the protein
expression is insufficient and the metabolic pathway is limited. In the future, the expression of the three
proteins needs to be further optimized.