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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2005, p. 3369-3372, Vol. 71, No. 6
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/AEM.71.6.3369-3372.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Large-Scale Engineering of the Corynebacterium glutamicum Genome
Nobuaki Suzuki,1
Satoshi Okayama,1,2
Hiroshi Nonaka,1
Yota Tsuge,1,2
Masayuki Inui,1 and
Hideaki Yukawa1,2*
Microbiology Research Group, Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE), 9-2, Kizugawadai, Kizu-Cho, Soraku-Gun, Kyoto 619-0292, Japan,1
Graduate School of Biological Sciences, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Ikoma, Nara 630-0101, Japan2
Received 28 October 2004/
Accepted 21 December 2004

ABSTRACT
The engineering of
Corynebacterium glutamicum is important for
enhanced production of biochemicals. To construct an improved
C. glutamicum genome, we developed a precise genome excision
method based on the Cre/
loxP recombination system and successfully
deleted 11 distinct genomic regions identified by comparative
analysis of
C. glutamicum genomes. Despite the loss of several
predicted open reading frames, the mutant cells exhibited normal
growth under standard laboratory conditions. With a total of
250 kb (7.5% of the genome), the 11 genomic regions were loaded
with cryptic prophages, transposons, and genes of unknown function
which were dispensable for cell growth, indicating recent horizontal
acquisitions to the genome. This provides an interesting background
for functional genomic studies and can be used in the improvement
of cell traits.

INTRODUCTION
The complete genome sequences of greater than 185 microorganisms
have been determined, and they are becoming an important resource
for the comprehensive understanding of cellular life. Among
strains of
Corynebacterium glutamicum, bacteria widely used
for the industrial production of amino acids, nucleic acids,
and organic acids (
11,
15), two strains, R (3,314,179 bp) (our
unpublished data) and ATCC 13032 (3,309,401 bp [
6] or 3,282,708
bp [
10]), have been sequenced. Based on whole genome sequences,
strain reconstruction studies for improved industrial application
have been initiated (
21).
By using the genome information of C. glutamicum, we recently found many strain-specific regions existing as "islands" in the common backbone (24). Gene loss and horizontal gene transfer are major genetic processes of genome evolution. These strain-specific islands (SSIs) were possibly shaped on the genome of the ancestral common strain of two C. glutamicum strains by the integration and deletion of many genes. The existence of similar islands was reported for Escherichia coli as K-, O-, or C-islands (13). Genes encoding antibiotic resistance factors, bacteriocins, and specific metabolic functions, such as enzymes involved in the degradation of xenobiotic compounds, are often found in these islands with many transposable elements and cryptic prophages (5, 16, 20, 22). In contrast, genes predicted to have basic core functions of cells are frequently annotated on the backbone regions. This information provides us with the working hypothesis that strain-specific islands may be deleted.
Can cells survive without SSIs? We chose to delete each of 11 SSIs that are larger than 10 kb among thousands of C. glutamicum R strain-specific islands. As a result, every strain successfully lost each targeted island, but all 11 mutants showed growth equivalent to the wild strain, indicating that a total genomic region of 250 kb carrying 233 predicted open reading frames was nonessential for cell survival under normal laboratory conditions. The combination of comparative genomics and large segment deletion was thus demonstrated to be a powerful tool for analyzing genomic and gene functions, and this approach will also be useful in creating improved cells for bioindustry.

Scheme for deletion of the C. glutamicum R genome.
SSIs of the
C. glutamicum R strain larger than 10 kb are depicted
in Fig.
1. These islands exist in the highly conserved common
backbone whose conservation rate is 97.3% between strains R
and 13032 (
24). The conserved backbone hypothetically includes
genes coding for the core functions of
C. glutamicum. In contrast,
SSIs showed very low homology to other parts of the two
C. glutamicum genomes, and their functions may be dispensable. We selected
these SSIs as excision targets and deleted these islands by
using the Cre/
loxP recombination system. Cre/
loxP is a simple
two-component system currently recognized as a powerful DNA
recombination tool. Cre recombinase can catalyze the reciprocal
site-specific recombination of DNA at 34-bp
loxP sites. When
two
loxP sites are in the same orientation on a linear DNA molecule,
Cre-mediated intramolecular recombination resolves with the
excision of the
loxP-flanking region (
14). It does not require
any host cofactor or accessory protein (
4). Successful genetic
manipulation of the bacterial genomes of
Escherichia coli (
26),
Lactococcus lactis (
1), and
C. glutamicum (
24) has been accomplished
with this recombination system.
In order to excise SSIs, three plasmids were constructed (Fig.
2). pCRA411 and pCRA412 are suicide vectors that introduce the
loxP site into the chromosome via homologous recombination,
and pCRA406 is a replicative Cre expression vector for
C. glutamicum (
24). First, approximately 1-kb short segments carrying the
5' and 3' flanking regions of a target SSI were amplified by
PCR and integrated into pCRA411 or pCRA412 with the spectinomycin
(Sp) or kanamycin (Km) resistance gene, respectively. Both pCRA411
and pCRA412 were integrated into
C. glutamicum by electroporation
(
24). Cells that integrated two
loxP sites into the genome were
selected with corresponding antibiotics (Km, 50 µg/ml;
Sp, 200 µg/ml) and confirmed by direct cell PCR. Second,
the resultant cells were transformed by pCRA406 and selected
by chloramphenicol (5 µg/ml). Cre recombinase was constitutively
expressed under the
lac promoter (
3).
In this experiment, successful deletion strains lost both Sp
and Km resistance genes along with each SSI. We selected cells
which lost antibiotic resistance and confirmed the deletion
of SSIs by PCR using primers P1 and P2 (Fig.
2). Furthermore,
PCR products of primers P1 and P2 were extracted from gels,
and their DNA was sequenced. Cultivation of
C. glutamicum was
performed at 33°C in complex medium (
7).

Result of large segment deletions.
Deletions of SSIs 1 and 3 were described earlier (
24). In this
study, the remaining nine SSIs were excised. In each of the
deletion experiments, many colonies grew as a result of the
transformation of Cre expression vector. For each SSI deletion,
96 of these colonies were transferred to a new plate and monitored
for Km or Sp resistance. All of them showed Km and Sp sensitivity.
One colony from each SSI deletion experiment was selected and
used in subsequent experiments. The antibiotic resistances of
the resultant deletion strains are shown in Fig.
3A and B. In
order to confirm the deletion of the SSI, PCR was performed,
and the 2-kb DNA fragments were successfully amplified with
primers P1 and P2. No fragments were observed from the parental
strain (Fig.
3C). The sequences of PCR products were determined
with P1 and P2, and GR1 was directly connected to GR2 via a
loxP site (Fig.
2). These results confirmed the excision of
SSIs by the Cre/
loxP-mediated recombination reaction. Deletion
strains were designated RD1 to RD11, corresponding to SSIs 1
to 11.

Growth rates of deletion strains.
Wild-type and deletion strains (RD1 to RD11) were cultivated
in minimal medium (
7). Cells were initially cultured in 2.5
ml complex medium, centrifuged, and washed twice with 5 ml minimal
medium. They were then diluted in approximately 1.0 ml of minimal
medium and their optical densities adjusted to 10.9 to 11.7.
Eight hundred microliters of each was inoculated in 100 ml minimal
medium. The initial optical density at 610 nm (OD
610) of the
cultures was 0.10 to 0.13. Despite the loss of numerous genes,
no significant differences in growth rate or final OD
610 were
observed between the deletion strains and the wild type (Table
1).

Features of strain-specific regions.
A total of 11 SSIs were deleted from the
C. glutamicum R genome.
Their sizes, GC contents, and predicted open reading frame numbers
are listed in Table
1. The average GC contents of SSIs 3 and
4 clearly differed from that of other regions (for SSI 3, SSI
4, and the whole genome, 60.7, 45.7, and 54.1%, respectively),
indicating horizontal gene transfer. SSI 3 and SSI 5 carried
many transposable elements, and SSI 8 and SSI 10 had the sequences
of corynephage

304L (
19) and

16
attP and
attB (
18). Genes encoding
phenylacetic acid degradation enzymes were found as an operon
on SSI 6. Many genes coding for xenobiotic compounds exist as
extrachromosomal genetic elements and are often integrated into
the host chromosome (
9,
25). Interestingly, however, a similar
operon was found in the
Corynebacterium efficiens genome but
not in that of the closest strain of
C. glutamicum, ATCC 13032.
These results indicate that the SSIs of
C. glutamicum R were
possibly shaped by an evolutionary process of horizontal gene
transfer from other bacteria, and the deletion of these genes
hypothetically has little effect on the survival of
C. glutamicum cells under laboratory conditions. No significant features were
found in the remaining SSIs, SSIs 1, 2, 7, 9, and 11.

Conclusion.
In this study, by using comparative analysis of
C. glutamicum genomes, we predicted 11 regions that were nonessential for
cell survival and through experiments confirmed that they are
not needed for cell growth under normal laboratory conditions.
DNA sequences also indicated that these regions were recently
shaped through an evolutionary process and may not have included
the core functions of
C. glutamicum.
The deletion of strain-specific islands is the first step in reducing the genome size of bacteria. Genomes probably contain many genes that are nonessential for cell survival (2, 12, 17), and the creation of host cells in which unnecessary genes are deleted for bioprocesses would give potential advantages for bioindustry. Genes which express by-products during production drive up the product purification costs. Recently, we proposed the concept of minimum genome factories (8). This can be defined as recombinant strains whose metabolism is engineered to acquire desired products. It typically involves an exhaustive reduction of the genome to the optimal minimum subset, as defined by the targeted application. The utilization of such large segment deletion methods will greatly contribute in creating minimum genome factories.
C. glutamicum is one of the most widely used bacteria for bioindustry. Though the improvement of C. glutamicum is important for the enhanced production of biochemicals, numerous gene functions remain unknown. Even with E. coli, the most thoroughly studied bacterium on the molecular level, functions of 20% of its 4,285 annotated genes are still not revealed (23). Thus, the large segment deletion approach will be useful in facilitating the investigation of unknown gene functions.

Nucleotide sequence accession numbers.
DNA sequences of SSIs and genes predicted on these regions were
registered with DDBJ (
http://www.ddbj.nig.ac.jp/Welcome-e.html).
The accession numbers are as follows: for SSI 1,
AB185495; for
SSI 2,
AB193029; for SSI 3,
AB193030; for SSI 4,
AB193031; for
SSI 5,
AB193032; for SSI 6,
AB193033; for SSI 7,
AB193034; for
SSI 8,
AB193035; for SSI 9,
AB193036; for SSI 10,
AB193037;
and for SSI 11,
AB193038.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This study was carried out as a part of the Project for Development
of a Technological Infrastructure for Industrial Bioprocesses
on R&D of New Industrial Science and Technology Frontiers
by Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry (METI) and entrusted
by New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization
(NEDO).

FOOTNOTES
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Microbiology Research Group, Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE), 9-2, Kizugawadai, Kizu-Cho, Soraku-Gun, Kyoto 619-0292, Japan. Phone: 81-774-75-2308. Fax: 81-774-75-2321. E-mail:
mmg-lab{at}rite.or.jp.


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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2005, p. 3369-3372, Vol. 71, No. 6
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/AEM.71.6.3369-3372.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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