Integrative bacterial artificial chromosomes for DNA integration into the Bacillus subtilis chromosome

The research presented in the following publication was funded in part through the OpenPlant Fund.

Juhas, Mario, and James W. Ajioka. “Integrative bacterial artificial chromosomes for DNA integration into the Bacillus subtilis chromosome.”Journal of microbiological methods 125 (2016): 1-7.

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Abstract

Bacillus subtilis is a well-characterized model bacterium frequently used for a number of biotechnology and synthetic biology applications. Novel strategies combining the advantages of B. subtilis with the DNA assembly and editing tools of Escherichia coli are crucial for B. subtilis engineering efforts. We combined Gibson Assembly and λ red recombineering in E. coli with RecA-mediated homologous recombination in B. subtilisfor bacterial artificial chromosome-mediated DNA integration into the well-characterized amyE target locus of the B. subtilis chromosome. The engineered integrative bacterial artificial chromosome iBAC(cav) can accept any DNA fragment for integration into B. subtilis chromosome and allows rapid selection of transformants by B. subtilis-specific antibiotic resistance and the yellow fluorescent protein (mVenus) expression. We used the developed iBAC(cav)-mediated system to integrate 10 kb DNA fragment from E. coliK12 MG1655 into B. subtilis chromosome. iBAC(cav)-mediated chromosomal integration approach will facilitate rational design of synthetic biology applications in B. subtilis.

Keywords

  • Bacterial artificial chromosome;
  • Chromosomal integration;
  • λ red recombineering;
  • mVenus;
  • RecA homologous recombination