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An inventory of the Aspergillus niger secretome by combining in silico predictions with shotgun proteomics data
An inventory of the Aspergillus niger secretome by combining in silico predictions with shotgun proteomics data

Abstract (Expand)

Background The ecological niche occupied by a fungal species, its pathogenicity and its usefulness as a microbial cell factory to a large degree depends on its secretome. Protein secretion usually …y requires the presence of a N-terminal signal peptide (SP) and by scanning for this feature using available highly accurate SP-prediction tools, the fraction of potentially secreted proteins can be directly predicted. However, prediction of a SP does not guarantee that the protein is actually secreted and current in silico prediction methods suffer from gene-model errors introduced during genome annotation. Results A majority rule based classifier that also evaluates signal peptide predictions from the best homologs of three neighbouring Aspergillus species was developed to create an improved list of potential signal peptide containing proteins encoded by the Aspergillus niger genome. As a complement to these in silico predictions, the secretome associated with growth and upon carbon source depletion was determined using a shotgun proteomics approach. Overall, some 200 proteins with a predicted signal peptide were identified to be secreted proteins. Concordant changes in the secretome state were observed as a response to changes in growth/culture conditions. Additionally, two proteins secreted via a non-classical route operating in A. niger were identified. Conclusions We were able to improve the in silico inventory of A. niger secretory proteins by combining different gene-model predictions from neighbouring Aspergilli and thereby avoiding prediction conflicts associated with inaccurate gene-models. The expected accuracy of signal peptide prediction for proteins that lack homologous sequences in the proteomes of related species is 85%. An experimental validation of the predicted proteome confirmed in silico predictions.

Authors: Machtelt Braaksma, Elena S Martens-Uzunova, Peter J Punt, Peter J Schaap

Date Published: 1st Dec 2010

Publication Type: Journal

RetroRules: a database of reaction rules for engineering biology.
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RetroRules is a database of reaction rules for metabolic engineering (https://retrorules.org). Reaction rules are generic descriptions of chemical reactions that can be used in retrosynthesis workflows … in order to enumerate all possible biosynthetic routes connecting a target molecule to its precursors. The use of such rules is becoming increasingly important in the context of synthetic biology applied to de novo pathway discovery and in systems biology to discover underground metabolism due to enzyme promiscuity. Here, we provide for the first time a complete set containing >400 000 stereochemistry-aware reaction rules extracted from public databases and expressed in the community-standard SMARTS (SMIRKS) format, augmented by a rule representation at different levels of specificity (the atomic environment around the reaction center). Such numerous representations of reactions expand natural chemical diversity by predicting de novo reactions of promiscuous enzymes.

Authors: T. Duigou, M. du Lac, P. Carbonell, J. L. Faulon

Date Published: No date defined

Publication Type: Not specified

RetroPath2.0: A retrosynthesis workflow for metabolic engineers.
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Abstract (Expand)

Synthetic biology applied to industrial biotechnology is transforming the way we produce chemicals. However, despite advances in the scale and scope of metabolic engineering, the research and development … process still remains costly. In order to expand the chemical repertoire for the production of next generation compounds, a major engineering biology effort is required in the development of novel design tools that target chemical diversity through rapid and predictable protocols. Addressing that goal involves retrosynthesis approaches that explore the chemical biosynthetic space. However, the complexity associated with the large combinatorial retrosynthesis design space has often been recognized as the main challenge hindering the approach. Here, we provide RetroPath2.0, an automated open source workflow for retrosynthesis based on generalized reaction rules that perform the retrosynthesis search from chassis to target through an efficient and well-controlled protocol. Its easiness of use and the versatility of its applications make this tool a valuable addition to the biological engineer bench desk. We show through several examples the application of the workflow to biotechnological relevant problems, including the identification of alternative biosynthetic routes through enzyme promiscuity or the development of biosensors. We demonstrate in that way the ability of the workflow to streamline retrosynthesis pathway design and its major role in reshaping the design, build, test and learn pipeline by driving the process toward the objective of optimizing bioproduction. The RetroPath2.0 workflow is built using tools developed by the bioinformatics and cheminformatics community, because it is open source we anticipate community contributions will likely expand further the features of the workflow.

Authors: B. Delepine, T. Duigou, P. Carbonell, J. L. Faulon

Date Published: No date defined

Publication Type: Not specified

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