Design

Cellcare Genetic circuit


Although the human body will potentially be protected by a hydrogel that will not allow bacteria to escape and, at the same time, allow the anti-cancer toxin Colicin E1 to escape, the system needs a large number of checkpoints for efficient and gentle drug delivery to tumor sites. For this reason, we have implemented a biosensor that senses the lactate released by cancer cells in a hypoxic environment due to a lack of oxygen, that is, a lactate biosensor. Only after lactate has been delivered will transcription of downstream proteins be unblocked.

Figure 1. Design of the plasmid map

Lactate biosensor


ALPaGA (A Lactate Promoter Operating in Glucose and Anoxia) is the codon-optimized part based on the wild-type promoter of LldPRD1

Wild type LldRPD2,3,4 ALPaGA
Works only in absence of glucose and presence of oxygen, limiting its broader applications Works in hypoxic and in the presence of glucose conditions, applicable for cancer therapy
Expressed in high copies which poses a metabolic stress on a host cell Expressed in pET9a, a low-copy plasmid, removing metabolic burden from the cell
Repressible in anoxia by ArcA The binding of LldR protein O1 and O2 leads to the formation of a DNA loop that blocks transcription. Once L-lactate is present, LldR binds it, undergoes a conformational change, and RNA polymerase can “sit” on promoter
Figure 2 Figure 3



Figure 2.Wild type LldRPD


Figure 3.ALPaGA

Anticancer Toxin



Figure 4.Colicin E1. Figure obtained from AlphaFold10,11

Immunity Protein


Colicin E1 immunity protein is located on the cea operon and encoded by the imm gene. It resides on the inner membrane of a cell at adhesion zones and protects the membrane from structural changes of Colicin E1 toxin interacting with its membrane binding domain12. MW of Immunity protein is approximately 13kDa.
Figure 5.The picture of immunity protein attached to the inner surface of the plasma membrane and blocking the activity of Colicin

Hydrogel Delivery System


Each element of our system is assembled into a plasmid, part of the Bacterial Therapeutics delivery system. The pore size of our hydrogel is large enough to allow molecules of any size to enter freely, such as lactic acid, and exit without problems such as bacteriocin Colicin E1. However, the pore size is small enough to keep bacteria within the polymer matrix of the hydrogel and not trigger an acute immune response.

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