(719f) Computer-Aided Design of a Synthetic Yeast-Bacteria Community

The field of synthetic biology has greatly evolved and numerous artificially engineered functions can now be implemented by single cells carrying the appropriate genetic information. However, in order for the cells to perform powerful tasks, co-operation between them may be necessary. To this end, various synthetic systems whose function requires cell-cell communication are being designed. These systems exhibit a wide range of behaviors ranging from heterogeneous yeast communities whose growth depends on one another to bacteria that kill each other, form various patterns and behave as predator-prey ecosystems [1]. Nevertheless, to our knowledge, there is no synthetic system composed of a yeast-bacteria community where bacteria co-operate with yeast to accomplish a task.

Here, we present the in silico design of a synthetic yeast-bacteria community. We are designing, modeling and simulating a synthetic community composed of S. cerevisiae and E.coli cells. To implement this, we are developing a stochastic model that captures all the interactions taking place within and between the eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells. Integration of well-characterized molecular regulatory elements into the genome of those two microbes allows for communication through quorum sensing. The survival of yeast depends on the existence of bacteria and vice versa. Interesting dynamics that stem from the substantial differences underlying eukaryotes and prokaryotes are observed. The conditions under which bacteria can successfully communicate with yeast are also investigated.

This study explores the various behaviors exhibited by the cohabitation of synthetic yeast and bacteria cells. Future directions involve the experimental design of synthetic yeast-bacteria communities based on key information acquired by our model.

References

1) Brenner K, Lingchong Y, Arnold FH, Engineering microbial consortia: a new frontier in synthetic biology, Trends Biotechnol. 2008;66(9):483–489