Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SynCrop (Synthetic Circuits for Robust Orthogonal Production)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2020-01-01 do 2021-12-31
SynCrop results and achievements fill in an important void in the European economic mission by efficiently exploiting the biosynthesis routes of industrially valuable products (exopolysaccharides, vitamins, and carotenoids). These three industrial products have wide range of applications, including dairy, animal and human nutrition, applications in cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries, yet using tedious, unsustainable and environmentally unfriendly methods.
Furthermore, SynCrop educated a new cohort of 15 international young researchers with unique combination of skills in quantitative biology that can construct modular and tunable synthetic circuits and reprogram organisms towards application-driven goals – an essential skillset for the young generation to become future research leaders or entrepreneurs in the emerging field of synthetic biology.
- Production and production-sensing circuits to produce exopolysaccharides, vitamins, or carotenoids for some of the most important industrial organisms used in food industry (Escherichia coli, Streptococcus thermophilus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae) were designed. The design and integration of the production circuits were optimized using model-guided studies.
- Alterations in the physico-chemical properties of the cytosol and membrane integrity upon operation of synthetic circuits were assessed through integrated state-of-the-art experimental and modelling approach.
- The integrative response of transcription, translation and metabolic responses upon operation of synthetic circuits were determined using various cutting-edge omics approaches combined with predictive modeling with different granularity.
- Various sensors to quantify homeostatic alterations were designed. The output of the production-sensing circuits together with the assessed limitations of core cellular processes served to define key set points used to mitigate the effect of the synthetic circuits.
- Through the precise control of expression of circuit components to economically use cellular resources the productivity of the synthetic circuits that produce exopolysaccharides, vitamins or carotenoids was optimized and their productivity enhanced in both laboratory and industrial scales.
From launching on the consortium, SynCrop has been present through a Wordpress-based website (http://www.synsrop.org/syncrop/) representing SynCrop’s own digital identity serving as a public window to present the consortium program and research. SynCrop has been disseminating results mainly through two channels: (1) academic channel, and (2) general public channel. So far, the SynCrop scientists have been extraordinarily successful and productive in their research - 27 peer-reviewed publications have been published and two IPs have been filed. The scientific results were disseminated through openly accessible publications, including pre-prints deposition on bioRxiv that enables immediate dissemination of results even during the peer review process. Each ESR presented the results at multiple national and international scientific conferences and workshops, both in presence and during the pandemic in a virtual format. Through participation in multiple public events, the ESRs enlarged the outreach of their scientific activities to layman audience. Several activities and events in schools were organized to raise the awareness and popularity of natural and engineering sciences among pupils - the next generation of students and scientists.
The ESRs used cutting-edge methodologies and gained expertise in the systems and production behavior of the most important industrial organisms towards innovative solutions with major impact for the European economy and food additives production. The truly supra-disciplinary character of the Syncrop project offered unique inter-sectoral training for our ESRs and serves as career catalyst to enhance their employability: many ESRs who already earned the doctoral degrees have immediately found with new jobs, both in industry and academia, continuing to disseminate the know-how of SynCrop.