Microbial Cell Cultures Research Articles

NIR spectroscopy-CNN-enabled chemometrics for multianalyte monitoring in microbial fermentation.

As the biopharmaceutical industry looks to implement Industry 4.0, the need for rapid and robust analytical characterization of analytes has become a pressing priority. Spectroscopic tools, like near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, are finding increasing use for real-time quantitative analysis. Yet detection of multiple low-concentration analytes in microbial and mammalian cell cultures remains an ongoing challenge, requiring the selection of carefully calibrated, resilient chemometrics for each analyte. The convolutional neural network (CNN) is a puissant tool for processing complex data and making it a potential approach for automatic multivariate spectral processing. This work proposes an inception module-based two-dimensional (2D) CNN approach (I-CNN) for calibrating multiple analytes using NIR spectral data. The I-CNN model, coupled with orthogonal partial least squares (PLS) preprocessing, converts the NIR spectral data into a 2D data matrix, after which the critical features are extracted, leading to model development for multiple analytes. Escherichia coli fermentation broth was taken as a case study, where calibration models were developed for 23 analytes, including 20 amino acids, glucose, lactose, and acetate. The I-CNN model result statistics depicted an average R2 values of prediction 0.90, external validation data set 0.86 and significantly lower root mean square error of prediction values ∼0.52 compared to conventional regression models like PLS. Preprocessing steps were applied to I-CNN models to evaluate any augmentation in prediction performance. Finally, the model reliability was assessed via real-time process monitoring and comparison with offline analytics. The proposed I-CNN method is systematic and novel in extracting distinctive spectral features from a multianalyte bioprocess data set and could be adapted to other complex cell culture systems requiring rapid quantification using spectroscopy.

Screening microbially produced pentyl diacetic acid lactone using an Escherichia coli biosensor workflow

BackgroundCannabinoid compounds have been approved as prescription drugs for treating various human ailments. However, the production using both microbial and plant-based sources is time-consuming and expensive because their yield is extremely low. Tetraketide synthase (TKS), the key enzyme in the biosynthesis of cannabinoid compounds, produces only 4% of the intermediate compound olivetolic acid. However, it may be possible to rearrange the carbon metabolic flux of TKS using genetic methods to increase the overall yields of cannabinoid compounds. In this context, protein engineering is an economically beneficial and viable solution to improve the catalytic activity of TKS. However, the ability to produce enzyme variants significantly exceeds the capacity to screen and identify high producers, creating a bottleneck in the enzyme engineering process. ResultsThis study constructed an Escherichia coli-based biosensor workflow for detecting the byproduct pentyl diacetic acid lactone (PDAL). Rational design was used to generate E. coli strains with mutant regulatory protein AraC and an altered effector PDAL to control the transcription of gfp and kanamycin. The developed biosensor could detect PDAL at the concentrations of the operational range from microbial cell culture and cell-free catalytic system. ConclusionsThe E. coli-based biosensor developed in this study efficiently detected PDAL with high throughput and low cost.How to cite: Gao M, Zhang Y, Xue L, et al. Screening microbially produced pentyl diacetic acid lactone using an Escherichia coli biosensor workflow. Electron J Biotechnol 2023;66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejbt.2023.09.002.

Activities against Lung Cancer of Biosynthesized Silver Nanoparticles: A Review.

Nanomedicine is an interdisciplinary field where nanostructured objects are applied to treat or diagnose disease. Nanoparticles (NPs) are a special class of materials at nanometric scale that can be prepared from lipids, polymers, or noble metals through bottom-up approaches. Biological synthesis is a reliable, sustainable, and non-toxic bottom-up method that uses phytochemicals, microorganisms, and enzymes to induce the reduction of metal ions into NPs. Silver (Ag) NPs exhibit potent therapeutic properties that can be exploited to overcome the limitations of current treatment modalities for human health issues such as lung cancer (LC). Here, we review the preparation of AgNPs using biological synthesis and their application against LC using in vitro and in vivo models. An overview of the staging, diagnosis, genetic mutations, and treatment of LC, as well as its main subtypes, is presented. A summary of the reaction mechanisms of AgNPs using microbial cell cultures, plant extracts, phytochemicals, and amino acids is included. The use of capping agents in the biosynthesis of AgNPs with anticancer activity is also detailed. The history and biological activities of metal-based nanostructures synthesized with gold, copper, palladium, and platinum are considered. The possible anticancer mechanisms of AgNPs against LC models are covered. Our perspective about the future of AgNPs in LC treatment and nanomedicine is added.

Biotransformation studies on bioactive compounds: 25 years of interesting research at the ICCBS

Biotransformation of natural, synthetic, and semi-synthetic compounds has emerged as a frontier branch of chemical sciences that is progressively being applied in numerous fields. In the present review, we have summarized our biotransformation studies on bioactive compounds from 1997 to 2022. Various microbial and plant cell cultures were used for biocatalytic structural transformations. We present here an overview of biotransformation of 53 compounds belonging to various classes of natural, synthetic, and semi-synthetic compounds, published in several leading journals. The structures of the resulting metabolites have been elucidated by detailed spectroscopic studies. Oxidation, reduction, dehydrogenation, chlorination, aromatization, methylation, demethylation, rearrangements, etc. were the main reactions that occurred during the biotransformation processes. Many of the biotransformed products exhibited interesting biological activities. Structural transformations in some cases have also led to improved pharmacokinetic profiles. This review is aimed to provide a focused account of extensive work carried out in our laboratories in this field, as well as the immense potential of biocatalytic transformations in organic chemistry.

Screening microbially produced Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol using a yeast biosensor workflow

Microbial production of cannabinoids promises to provide a consistent, cheaper, and more sustainable supply of these important therapeutic molecules. However, scaling production to compete with traditional plant-based sources is challenging. Our ability to make strain variants greatly exceeds our capacity to screen and identify high producers, creating a bottleneck in metabolic engineering efforts. Here, we present a yeast-based biosensor for detecting microbially produced Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) to increase throughput and lower the cost of screening. We port five human cannabinoid G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) into yeast, showing the cannabinoid type 2 receptor, CB2R, can couple to the yeast pheromone response pathway and report on the concentration of a variety of cannabinoids over a wide dynamic and operational range. We demonstrate that our cannabinoid biosensor can detect THC from microbial cell culture and use this as a tool for measuring relative production yields from a library of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol acid synthase (THCAS) mutants.

Improved Time Resolved KPI and Strain Characterization of Multiple Hosts in Shake Flasks Using Advanced Online Analytics and Data Science.

Shake flasks remain one of the most widely used cultivation systems in biotechnology, especially for process development (cell line and parameter screening). This can be justified by their ease of use as well as their low investment and running costs. A disadvantage, however, is that cultivations in shake flasks are black box processes with reduced possibilities for recording online data, resulting in a lack of control and time-consuming, manual data analysis. Although different measurement methods have been developed for shake flasks, they lack comparability, especially when changing production organisms. In this study, the use of online backscattered light, dissolved oxygen, and pH data for characterization of animal, plant, and microbial cell culture processes in shake flasks are evaluated and compared. The application of these different online measurement techniques allows key performance indicators (KPIs) to be determined based on online data. This paper evaluates a novel data science workflow to automatically determine KPIs using online data from early development stages without human bias. This enables standardized and cost-effective process-oriented cell line characterization of shake flask cultivations to be performed in accordance with the process analytical technology (PAT) initiative. The comparison showed very good agreement between KPIs determined using offline data, manual techniques, and automatic calculations based on multiple signals of varying strengths with respect to the selected measurement signal.

Green Synthesis of Silver Nano Particles Derieved from Leaf Extract of Syzygiumcuminii (SNSC) – to Evaluate Antibacterial Activity

Synthesis of metals nanoparticles from the plant or plant extracts has emerged as an important alternative to the chemical method. The biological approach to the synthesis of nanoparticles has many advantages such as non-elaborative process, no multiple purification steps, no need of intracellular synthesis and dosenot require maintenance of microbial cell cultures. Medicinal plants and green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have proven to be good sources of agents effective in the treatment of various diseases. The present study focuses on the green synthesis of SNSC, silverna noparticles (AgNPs) from leaf extract of Syzygiumcuminii in order to evaluate the antibacterial properties of this extract and synthesized AgNPs. The characterization of the Synthesized nanoparticles (SNSC) was determined using UV-VIS spectroscopy, TEM,X ray diffraction and FTRI studies, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) showed absorption peak at 470 nm in aqueous medium in UV-VIS spectrum. TEM analysis shows themorphology of AgNPs as a hexagonal matrix with average particle size of about 50 nm. XRD analysis displays the crystalline structure of AgNPs.FTIR analysis shows that amide groups present in proteins are dominant reducing agents and play an important role in the bio reduction of Ag+ ions to Ag0. The synthesized silver nanoparticles from leaf extract of Syzygiumcuminii(SNSC) showed antibacterial activity against common clinical pathogens. Owing to the remarkable potential antibacterial activity against common pathogenic microorganisms, the synthesized AgNPs derieved from SNSCcan have potential for development in medical applications in the future..

Plant-based Vaccines

The pandemic of novel coronavirus disease-19 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has stimulated scientists from different backgrounds to gear up on developing vaccines against the virus. Several antigenic epitopes of the virus have the potential to induce an immunogenic response, among which viral spike protein (“S” protein) is considered to be the most suitable vaccine candidate. In this review, the latest progress in the field of plant molecular pharming (PMF), its application, limitations, and commercial initiatives toward the production of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine have been discussed. Vaccine production by PMF has gained considerable attention these days and can be used for large-scale commercial production of antigenic proteins, antibodies, and other biopharmaceuticals. New age plant breeding techniques facilitated by CRISPR-Cas-based genome editing technology and next-generation sequencing methods also help to achieve greater precision and rapidity. Several unique advantages are offered by plant-based vaccine production techniques over that of the microbial or mammalian cell culture system. Virus-like particles and Agrobacterium-mediated transient somatic expression systems have a high potential for the large scale, cost-effective, and robust production of plant-derived vaccines against SARS-CoV-2.

Cellular engineering of plant cells for improved therapeutic protein production.

In vitro cultured plant cells, in particular the tobacco BY-2 cell, have demonstrated their potential to provide a promising bioproduction platform for therapeutic proteins by integrating the merits of whole-plant cultivation systems with those of microbial and mammalian cell cultures. Over the past three decades, substantial progress has been made in improving the plant cell culture system, resulting in a few commercial success cases, such as taliglucerase alfa (Elelyso®), the first FDA-approved recombinant pharmaceutical protein derived from plant cells. However, compared to the major expression hosts (bacteria, yeast, and mammalian cells), plant cells are still largely underutilized, mainly due to low productivity and non-human glycosylation. Modern molecular biology tools, in particular RNAi and the latest genome editing technology CRISPR/Cas9, have been used to modulate the genome of plant cells to create new cell lines that exhibit desired “traits” for producing therapeutic proteins. This review highlights the recent advances in cellular engineering of plant cells towards improved recombinant protein production, including creating cell lines with deficient protease levels or humanized glycosylation, and considers potential development in the future.

DESULFURIZATION OF BENZOTHIOPHENE BY AN ISOLATED GORDONIA SP. IITR100

Different recalcitrant aliphatic and aromatic sulfur compounds e.g. Dibenzothiophene, Benzothiophene, and Di-methyl Dibenzothiophene etc. have been remaining in the petrol and diesel, even after hydrodesulfurization, a chemical method of sulfur impurities removal. These sulfur impurities are required to be removed before it is being transported as fuel. So many microbes have been reported in the last decade showing potential for removing the sulfur impurities by using various pathways at ambient temperature, especially 4S pathways. In this study, we describe desulfurization of a model compound Benzothiophene by a Gordonia sp. IITR100 using microbial cell culture and analytical techniques e.g. spectrophotometry and gas chromatography-mass spectrophotometry using column-5. Gordonia sp. IITR100 can grow on Benzothiophene as well as Dibenzothiophene us shown by spectrophotometrical analysis as evident by increased turbidity in aqueous culture. Benzothiophene was metabolized to o-hydroxystyrene as the final product analogous to ‘4S’ pathway as Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectra analysis revealed. Gordonia sp. IITR100 have already been shown desulfurization with heavy organosulfur compounds like Thianthrene, and Benzonahpthothiophene to o-hydroxyphenyl phenylsulfone and 2-phenyl-naphthalene-1-ol respectively. The Gordonia sp. IITR100 have shown potential for Desulfurization of heavy and calcitarant sulfur-compounds suggests its potential (broad substrates range) for use in various tough organosulfur fractions in petroleum. Thus, this bacterial strain could be utilized for commercial purpose of biodesulfurization.

Textronics Interdigitate Electrodes for Staphylococcus Aureus bacteria detecting

The aim of the paper is to investigate the changes in electrical parameters of the interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) due to the development of Staphylococcus aureus. More precisely, the article presents the results of electrode’s resistance, capacitance and inductance changes in the function of bacteria density. The electrodes are made in the process of physical vacuum deposition on composite textile substrates. This allows to apply them in textronic applications. Changes in the electrical parameters of the produced IDEs were observed during microbial cell culture growing. The results of the research have demonstrated that the bacteria density influences the electrical parameters of the electrode. The greatest changes in these parameters are observed at the frequencies of 100 and 120 Hz after the day of inoculating staphylococcal cells into the medium, where the measuring electrodes were placed.

An accelerated method for determining «self/non-self» microorganisms in the agglutination reaction

A simple accelerated method for determining «self/non-self» microorganisms by using the agglutination reaction (RA) and therapeutic/prophylactic serum (Immunoglobulin complex preparation, lyophilized IgG, IgA, IgM immunoglobulins, developed by CSC Immuno-Gem, Moscow) is proposed to test for pathogenic, opportunistic and dominant probiotic Bifidobacteria spp. In parallel, all the microbial cell cultures examined were registered in the databases of Russia-wide and international collections and tested by the intermicrobial “self/non-self” recognition method, previously developed by us. 16 collection strains of various microorganisms were assessed by the RA with relevant therapeutic and prophylactic serum. Biological samples were obtained from the collection bacterial strains of Bifidobacterium bifidum 791, Escherichia coli LEGM-18, Klebsiella pneumoniae 278, Lactobacillus fermentum 90T-C4, Bifidobacterium longum MC-42, Escherichia coli M-17, Shigella sonnei 177b, Shigella flexneri 170, Escherichia coli 157, Staphylococcus aureus 209, Candida albicans 10231 and Salmonella serovar Enteritidis ATCC 10708. In addition, cell cultures obtained from the Museum of the Institute of Cellular and Intracellular Symbiosis UB RAS such as Bifidobacterium longum ICIS-505, Lactobacillus acidophilus ICIS-1127, Bifidobacterium bifidum ICIS-202, Bifidobacterium bifidum ICIS-310 were also included into the study. To assess microbial peptidoglycan foreignness, the intermicrobial “self/non-self” recognition method was also used based on inducing metabolites produced by the “dominant” test strain Bifidobacterium longum MC-42 after pre-incubation with metabolites collected from the studied cell cultures (“associates”) followed by established “dominant-associate” feedback loop. The data were evaluated by assessing change-fold in reproduction (growth/replication) and adaptation (biofilm formation and anti-lysozyme test) of microbial cultures in accordance with the described technique followed by comparing these two methods for intermicrobial “self/non-self” recognition. All the RA data were found to fully agree with those obtained after previous studies by using intermicrobial “self/non-self” recognition method coupled to “dominant-associate” system. Moreover, compared to analogous “intermicrobial recognition” method (5 days), ease of use and test timeframe (24 hours) allow to consider RA attractive for screening studies to select strains for scientific and industrial purposes.

A General Process-Based Model for Describing the Metabolic Shift in Microbial Cell Cultures.

The metabolic shift between respiration and fermentation at high glucose concentration is a widespread phenomenon in microbial world, and it is relevant for the biotechnological exploitation of microbial cell factories, affecting the achievement of high-cell-densities in bioreactors. Starting from a model already developed for the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, based on the System Dynamics approach, a general process-based model for two prokaryotic species of biotechnological interest, such as Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, is proposed. The model is based on the main assumption that glycolytic intermediates act as central catabolic hub regulating the shift between respiratory and fermentative pathways. Furthermore, the description of a mixed fermentation with secondary by-products, characteristic of bacterial metabolism, is explicitly considered. The model also represents the inhibitory effect on growth and metabolism of self-produced toxic compounds relevant in assessing the late phases of high-cell density culture. Model simulations reproduced data from experiments reported in the literature with different strains of non-recombinant and recombinant E. coli and B. subtilis cultured in both batch and fed-batch reactors. The proposed model, based on simple biological assumptions, is able to describe the main dynamics of two microbial species of relevant biotechnological interest. It demonstrates that a reductionist System Dynamics approach to formulate simplified macro-kinetic models can provide a robust representation of cell growth and accumulation in the medium of fermentation by-products.

Technoeconomic analysis of semicontinuous bioreactor production of biopharmaceuticals in transgenic rice cell suspension cultures.

Biopharmaceutical protein production using transgenic plant cell bioreactor processes offers advantages over microbial and mammalian cell culture platforms in its ability to produce complex biologics with simple chemically defined media and reduced biosafety concerns. A disadvantage of plant cells from a traditional batch bioprocessing perspective is their slow growth rate which has motivated us to develop semicontinuous and/or perfusion processes. Although the economic benefits of plant cell culture bioprocesses are often mentioned in the literature, to our knowledge no rigorous technoeconomic models or analyses have been published. Here we present technoeconomic models in SuperPro Designer® for the large-scale production of recombinant butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), a prophylactic/therapeutic bioscavenger against organophosphate nerve agent poisoning, in inducible transgenic rice cell suspension cultures. The base facility designed to produce 25 kg BChE per year utilizing two-stage semicontinuous bioreactor operation manufactures a single 400 mg dose of BChE for $263. Semicontinuous operation scenarios result in 4-11% reduction over traditional two-stage batch operation scenarios. In addition to providing a simulation tool that will be useful to the plant-made pharmaceutical community, the model also provides a computational framework that can be used for other semicontinuous or batch bioreactor-based processes.

Analysis of the influence of flame sterilization included in sampling operations on shake-flask cultures of microorganisms

Shake-flask cultures of microorganisms involve flame sterilization during sampling, which produces combustion gas with high CO2 concentrations. The gaseous destination has not been deeply analyzed. Our aim was to investigate the effect of flame sterilization on the headspace of the flask and on the shake-flask culture. In this study, the headspace CO2 concentration was found to increase during flame sterilization ~0.5–2.0% over 5–20 s empirically using the Circulation Direct Monitoring and Sampling System. This CO2 accumulation was confirmed theoretically using Computational Fluid Dynamics; it was 9% topically. To evaluate the influence of CO2 accumulation without interference from other sampling factors, the flask gas phase formed by flame sterilization was reproduced by aseptically supplying 99.8% CO2 into the headspace, without sampling. We developed a unit that can be sampled in situ without interruption of shaking, movement to a clean bench, opening of the culture-plug, and flame sterilization. We observed that the growth behaviour of Escherichia coli, Pelomonas saccharophila, Acetobacter pasteurianus, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae was different depending on the CO2 aeration conditions. These results are expected to contribute to improving microbial cell culture systems.

Increased brazzein expression by abiotic stress and bioreactor culture system for the production of sweet protein, brazzein

Plant-based recombinant protein production systems are powerful tools that can be used instead of microbial and animal cell culture systems. The aim of this study was to establish a stable brazzein production system from carrot cell suspension using bioreactor. Using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation (stress-inducible SWPA2 promoter and brazzein gene), three transgenic lines (TC1, 11, 12) were generated. During the TC12 culture period, cell proliferation increased rapidly up to 15 days, and the maximum cell division rate (log phase) was reached after 6 days of culture. Fresh weight peaked at day 18, 3.8-fold (7.6 g 100 mL−1) higher than on day 1, and gene expression was tenfold higher on day 27 than on day 0. The brazzein-encoding gene was also analyzed after treatment with various stress factors for increase of brazzein gene expression, and abscisic acid (ABA) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) proved most effective. In particular, the gene expression was enhanced 2.5-fold with 220 μM H2O2 and 2.8-fold with 50 μM ABA, compared with controls. Transgenic cells were then transferred to various types of air-lift bioreactor, and the column bioreactor achieved a higher biomass (238.9 g L−1) than cone and balloon bioreactors. These results demonstrate an efficient protein production system for brazzein using an air-lift bioreactor that may be suitable for the use in the food industry.

Carotenoids and lipid production from Rhodosporidium toruloides cultured in tea waste hydrolysate

BackgroundIn this study, renewable tea waste hydrolysate was used as a sole carbon source for carotenoids and lipid production. A novel Rhodosporidium toruloides mutant strain, RM18, was isolated through atmospheric and room-temperature plasma mutagenesis and continuous domestication in tea waste hydrolysate from R. toruloides ACCC20341.ResultsRM18 produced a larger biomass and more carotenoids and α-linolenic acid compared with the control strain cultured in tea waste hydrolysate. The highest yields of torularhodin (481.92 μg/g DCW) and torulene (501 μg/g DCW) from RM18 cultured in tea waste hydrolysate were 12.86- and 1.5-fold higher, respectively, than that of the control strain. In addition, α-linolenic acid production from RM18 in TWH accounted for 5.5% of total lipids, which was 1.58 times more than that of the control strain. Transcriptomic profiling indicated that enhanced central metabolism and terpene biosynthesis led to improved carotenoids production, whereas aromatic amino acid synthesis and DNA damage checkpoint and sensing were probably relevant to tea waste hydrolysate tolerance.ConclusionTea waste is suitable for the hydrolysis of microbial cell culture mediums. The R. toruloides mutant RM18 showed considerable carotenoids and lipid production cultured in tea waste hydrolysate, which makes it viable for industrial applications.

Microbial Protein Production from Agro-industrial Wastes as Food and Feed

Microbial protein refers to dead, dry microbial cells or total proteins extracted from pure microbial cell culture and is produced using a number of different microorganisms including bacteria, yeasts, filamentous fungi, and algae, which are used as protein supplement in human foods or animal feeds. It can also be called single cell protein, bio protein or biomass. Microorganisms, utilize inexpensive feedstock and wastes as sources of carbon and energy for growth to produce biomass, protein concentrate or amino acids. Besides high protein content (about 60-82% of dry cell weight), microbial protein also contains fats, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, vitamins and minerals like potassium, phosphorus. Another advantage with microbial protein is that it is rich in certain essential amino acids like lysine, methionine which are limiting in most plant and animal. With increase in population and worldwide protein shortage the use of microbial biomass as food and feed is more highlighted. One of the most prominent applications of microbial protein (single cell protein) is that it can be used as dietary supplements to address important issues like malnutrition especially in the developing countries.

Oregano powder reduces Streptococcus and increases SCFA concentration in a mixed bacterial culture assay.

Food borne illnesses have a world-wide economic impact and industries are continuously developing technologies to reduce the spread of disease caused by microorganisms. Antimicrobial growth promoters (AGPs) have been used to decrease microbiological infections in animals and their potential transfer to humans. In recent years there has been a global trend to remove AGPs from animal feed in an attempt to reduce the spread of antimicrobial resistant genes into the human population. Phytobiotics, such as oregano powder, are one of the potential replacements for AGPs due to their well-established antimicrobial components. 16S rRNA gene amplicons were used to determine the effect of oregano powder (1% w/v) on the microbiota of mixed bacterial cell cultures, which were obtained from the ceca of traditionally grown meat chickens (broilers). Oregano powder had a mild effect on the microbial cell cultures increasing Enterococcus faecium, rearranging ratios of members in the genus Lactobacillus and significantly reducing the genus Streptococcus (p = 1.6e-3). Beneficial short chain fatty acids (SCFA), acetic and butyric acid, were also significantly increased in oregano powder supplemented cultures. These results suggest that oregano powder at a concentration of 1% (w/v) may have beneficial influences on mixed microbial communities and SCFA production.

Programming Bacteria With Light-Sensors and Applications in Synthetic Biology.

Photo-receptors are widely present in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, which serves as the foundation of tuning cell behaviors with light. While practices in eukaryotic cells have been relatively established, trials in bacterial cells have only been emerging in the past few years. A number of light sensors have been engineered in bacteria cells and most of them fall into the categories of two-component and one-component systems. Such a sensor toolbox has enabled practices in controlling synthetic circuits at the level of transcription and protein activity which is a major topic in synthetic biology, according to the central dogma. Additionally, engineered light sensors and practices of tuning synthetic circuits have served as a foundation for achieving light based real-time feedback control. Here, we review programming bacteria cells with light, introducing engineered light sensors in bacteria and their applications, including tuning synthetic circuits and achieving feedback controls over microbial cell culture.