A Genetically Encoded System for Oxygen Generation in Living Cells

Overview

Journal Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Specialty Science

Date 2022 Oct 10

PMID 36215519

Authors

Andrew L Markhard

Jason G McCoy

Tsz-Leung To

Vamsi K Mootha

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Oxygen plays a key role in supporting life on our planet. It is particularly important in higher eukaryotes where it boosts bioenergetics as a thermodynamically favorable terminal electron acceptor and has important roles in cell signaling and development. Many human diseases stem from either insufficient or excessive oxygen. Despite its fundamental importance, we lack methods with which to manipulate the supply of oxygen with high spatiotemporal resolution in cells and in organisms. Here, we introduce a genetic system, SupplemeNtal Oxygen Released from ChLorite (SNORCL), for on-demand local generation of molecular oxygen in living cells, by harnessing prokaryotic chlorite O-lyase (Cld) enzymes that convert chlorite (ClO) into molecular oxygen (O) and chloride (Cl). We show that active Cld enzymes can be targeted to either the cytosol or mitochondria of human cells, and that coexpressing a chlorite transporter results in molecular oxygen production inside cells in response to externally added chlorite. This first-generation system allows fine temporal and spatial control of oxygen production, with immediate research applications. In the future, we anticipate that technologies based on SNORCL will have additional widespread applications in research, biotechnology, and medicine.

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