Engineering PQS biosynthesis pathway for enhancement of bioelectricity production in pseudomonas aeruginosa microbial fuel cells

PLoS One. 2013 May 20;8(5):e63129. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0063129. Print 2013.

Abstract

The biosynthesis of the redox shuttle, phenazines, in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an ubiquitous microorganism in wastewater microflora, is regulated by the 2-heptyl-3,4-dihydroxyquinoline (PQS) quorum-sensing system. However, PQS inhibits anaerobic growth of P. aeruginosa. We constructed a P. aeruginosa strain that produces higher concentrations of phenazines under anaerobic conditions by over-expressing the PqsE effector in a PQS negative ΔpqsC mutant. The engineered strain exhibited an improved electrical performance in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and potentiostat-controlled electrochemical cells with an approximate five-fold increase of maximum current density relative to the parent strain. Electrochemical analysis showed that the current increase correlates with an over-synthesis of phenazines. These results therefore demonstrate that targeting microbial cell-to-cell communication by genetic engineering is a suitable technique to improve power output of bioelectrochemical systems.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bioelectric Energy Sources / microbiology*
  • Biofilms
  • Biosynthetic Pathways / genetics
  • Electricity
  • Genetic Engineering
  • Hydroxyquinolines / metabolism*
  • Phenazines / metabolism*
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa / physiology*
  • Pyocyanine / biosynthesis
  • Quorum Sensing / genetics

Substances

  • Hydroxyquinolines
  • Phenazines
  • Pyocyanine

Grants and funding

This research is supported by the National Research Foundation and Ministry of Education Singapore under its Research Centre of Excellence Programme and the Start-up Grants (M4320002.C70) and (M4080847.030) from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.