Improvement of Bacilysin Production in Bacillus subtilis by CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Editing of the 5'-Untranslated Region of the bac Operon.

Abstract

Bacilysin is a dipeptide antibiotic composed of L-alanine and L-anticapsin produced by certain strains ofB. subtilis. Bacilysin is gaining increasing attention in industrial agriculture and pharmaceutical industries due to its potent antagonistic effects on various bacterial, fungal, and algal pathogens. However, its use in industrial applications is hindered by its low production in the native producer. The biosynthesis of bacilysin is mainly based on thebacABCDEFoperon. Examination of the sequence surrounding the upstream of thebacoperon did not reveal a clear, strong ribosome binding site (RBS). Therefore, in this study, we aimed to investigate the impact of RBS as a potential route to improve bacilysin production. For this, the 5' untranslated region (5'UTR) of thebacoperon was edited using the CRISPR/Cas9 approach by introducing a strong ribosome binding sequence carrying the canonical Shine-Dalgarno sequence (TAAGGAGG) with an 8 nt spacing from the AUG start codon. Strong RBS substitution resulted in a 2.87-fold increase in bacilysin production without affecting growth. Strong RBS substitution also improved the mRNA stability of thebacoperon. All these data revealed that extensive RBS engineering is a promising key option for enhancing bacilysin production in its native producers.