Engineered membraneless organelles boost bioproduction in Corynebacterium glutamicum

A research team led by Professor Wang Peng from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with international researchers, successfully designed membrane-less organelles (MLOs) driven by liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) within the food-grade industrial strain Corynebacterium glutamicum.

The corresponding results were published in Synthetic and systemic biotechnology.

LLPS-driven MLOs represent an emerging technology in cellular structure engineering. By dynamically isolating enzymes and substrates, LLPS significantly improves metabolic efficiency and enhances the synthesis of target products.

In this study, researchers constructed functional MLOs in C. glutamicum, using the bio-blue dye indigoidine as a model compound. This engineering resulted in a 2.43-fold increase in indigoidine titer, demonstrating the strong potential of synthetic condensates to optimize metabolic pathways.

Additionally, they managed to spatially isolate antimicrobial peptides melittin and lactoferricin B, which effectively reduced their toxicity to host cells, thereby enabling the successful expression of these otherwise harmful biomolecules.

“This study proposes a new strategy to overcome major industrial challenges such as low yield and high toxicity, while advancing the applications of LLPS technology in industrial biotechnology,” said Professor Wang.