Beau Dronsella

Beau Dronsella

@beaubd.bsky.social

Postdoc in the Erblab working on synthetic carbon fixation

94 followers101 following10 posts

Beau Dronsella reposted

Nico Claassens
@nicoc-micsynmet.bsky.social

We present the most advanced implementation of a synthetic CO2 fixation cycle in a living cell: rMasp in E. coli. 2/3 of the cycle works already together including fastest carboxylase known on earth, CCR! Nice advance designed and driven by Vittorio Rainaldi authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

authors.elsevier.comModular in vivo engineering of the reductive methylaspartate cycles for synthetic CO2 fixationBiological carbon fixation is currently limited to seven naturally occurring pathways. Synthetic carbon fixation pathways have the potential to surpas…

Beau Dronsella reposted

Fay-Wei Li
@fernway.bsky.social

Our work on #hornwort #pyrenoids is finally out in @science.org! 🎉 We uncovered how hornworts pack their Rubisco into pyrenoids and successfully recreated them in Arabidopsis. A key step toward engineering more efficient photosynthesis in crops @btiscience.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.orgAn unconventional Rubisco small subunit underpins the CO2-concentrating organelle in land plantsIn many algae, photosynthesis is boosted by biophysical CO2-concentrating mechanisms, which pack the CO2-fixing enzyme Rubisco into liquid-like organelles called pyrenoids. Engineering C3 crops with a...
Beau Dronsella
@beaubd.bsky.social

Cool Preprint led by @mirbachh on comparing machine learning based engineering of a synthetic C1 fixation pathway vs the classic ALE based approach. ML allowed way faster pathway establishment and when combined with the evolved background improved growth by a factor of 3.🔥🎉

Helena Schulz-Mirbach@helenasm.bsky.social

How do we engineer metabolism more efficiently ❓ The core work of my PhD focussed on this question, and I am thrilled to now share the respective Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.orgCombining evolution and machine learning-guided pathway optimization to engineer a novel methylsuccinate module for synthetic C1 metabolism in vivoDe novo metabolic pathways open possibilities for sustainable biotransformations in microbes. However, the in vivo-implementation of such new-to-nature pathways is highly challenging and heavily relies on adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) of the host's native metabolic network. Here, we assess how much this need for host-centric ALE can be overcome and/or complemented through the informed design of the newly introduced pathway. Exemplifying for a synthetic CO2-fixation module via methylsuccinate, we established methylsuccinate-dependent growth of Escherichia coli over six months by ALE of E. coli's native metabolism. In parallel, we developed a machine-learning guided workflow (MEVIS) for the automated engineering of the synthetic pathway, resulting in methylsuccinate-dependent growth within three weeks. Critically, performing MEVIS in the background of the ALE-evolved strain is necessary to further approach wild-type like growth, demonstrating how ALE in combination with machine-learning-guided lab automation holds great potential to accelerate and improve design-build-test-learn cycles in contemporary metabolic engineering. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Max Planck Society, https://ror.org/01hhn8329 Bosch Research Foundation

Beau Dronsella reposted

Claudia Vickers
@claudiavickers.bsky.social

Our new paper is out: we present a quantitative framework to assess how (bio)tech interventions in plant agriculture could meaningfully contribute to climate mitigation. This may be the most important paper I ever publish #SyntheticBiology #ClimateAction #Agriculture #Biochar doi.org/10.1093/plph...

doi.orgHarnessing plant agriculture to mitigate climate change: A framework to evaluate synthetic biology (and other) interventionsThe scale of plant agriculture can be used to mitigate climate change, and meaningful targets (synthetic biology and comparators) can be selected to increa

Beau Dronsella reposted

Nico Claassens
@nicoc-micsynmet.bsky.social

Newest preprint from our lab: a new family of promising synthetic CO2 fixation cycles that may outcompete the Calvin cycle and that Vittorio Rainaldi realized to a great extent in E. coli! Up to 11 heterologous enzymes in a cascade supporting CO2 fixation & growth! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

biorxiv.orgModular in vivo engineering of the reductive methylaspartate cycles for synthetic CO2 fixationBiological carbon fixation is currently limited to seven naturally occurring pathways. Synthetic carbon fixation pathways have the potential to surpass aerobic natural pathways in efficiency, but none...

Beau Dronsella reposted

René Inckemann
@reneinckemann.bsky.social

Very excited to finally share my PhD paper, about advancing #chloroplast #synbio through high-throughput plastome engineering of #Chlamydomonas. Huge thanks to the whole team! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.comA modular high-throughput approach for advancing synthetic biology in the chloroplast of Chlamydomonas - Nature PlantsThis study reports a modular-cloning-based platform for high-throughput chloroplast engineering in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii that allows large-scale characterization of genetic parts and prototyping o...
Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology@mpimicrobiomarburg.bsky.social

Turbo platform for plant research 🚀🪴 Extreme weather events due to #climatechange reduce crop yields. @reneinckemann.bsky.social & team led by Tobias Erb @synmikro.bsky.social has now developed a microalgae platform for fast and efficient tests of chloroplast gene variants s.gwdg.de/hznfNe

mpi-marburg.mpg.deTurbo Platform for Plant ResearchResearchers at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology and the Center for Synthetic Microbiology (SYNMIKRO) have developed a new microalgae testing platform. Using the single-celled gree...

Beau Dronsella reposted

Ralf Reski
@reskilab.bsky.social

Please check out our improved #preprint: CRISPR/Cas9 targeted genetic screening in Physcomitrella identifies novel cell division genes Thank you, Elena Kozgunova for taking the lead. #Physcomitrella #celldivision www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

biorxiv.orgCRISPR/Cas9 targeted genetic screening in Physcomitrella identifies novel cell division genesAlthough plants share core cell division mechanisms with other eukaryotes, their unique features, such as acentrosomal spindle formation and cytokinesis via the phragmoplast, suggest the existence of ...

Beau Dronsella reposted

labnikel.bsky.social
@labnikel.bsky.social

🚀 Thrilled to share our new Nature Communications article: “A blueprint for designing the next-generation of synthetic C1 microbes” We propose a framework to unlock sustainable, carbon-efficient biomanufacturing using non-canonical hosts. 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41... A short 🧵1/4

nature.comA blueprint for designing the next-generation of synthetic C1 microbes - Nature CommunicationsSynthetic one-carbon assimilation could contribute to a more sustainable and circular carbon economy, but much work in this field has focused on model microorganisms. Here the authors provide their perspective on the potential value of non-model microbes, and how that potential could be realised.

Beau Dronsella reposted

Stefano Donati
@stefanodonati.bsky.social

1/ 🚨 New preprint! We've developed a robust IDMS-based LC-MS/MS workflow for high-throughput intracellular metabolomics in diverse bacteria. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #Metabolomics #MassSpec #SystemsBiology

biorxiv.orgA Robust Isotope Ratio LC-MS/MS Workflow for High-Throughput Metabolic Profiling of BacteriaStable isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) has become a cornerstone of quantitative metabolomics, enabling accurate intracellular metabolite quantification across a range of biological systems. ...

Beau Dronsella reposted

Typas Lab
@typaslab.bsky.social

EMBL is back on hiring faculty! Check out the multiple open positions: 3 PIs- 2 in Heidelberg incl. our Molecular Systems Biology Unit, 1 in Grenoble 1 Head of Unit (Cell Biology & Biophysics, Heidelberg). Closing deadlines in Sep! +3 more positions to come out then, stay tuned... @embl.org

EMBL@embl.org

We’re looking for curious, innovative science leaders at EMBL Heidelberg! 🔬🧬🦠 Join a vibrant, interdisciplinary community where collaboration and innovation are nurtured at all levels. Take a look at these four open positions 👇

Beau Dronsella reposted

Stefano Donati
@stefanodonati.bsky.social

Now published in Microbial Biotechnology! enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.comenviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Stefano Donati@stefanodonati.bsky.social

📢 Preprint alert! In this study we provide new genomic insights into #CupriavidusNecator for #C1Biomanufacturing: - Genome assemblies for more strains - Species definition refined - Traits & methylation systems explored Great job by @magnusgj.bsky.social and team www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

biorxiv.orgComparative genomic assessment of the Cupriavidus necator species for one-carbon based biomanufacturingThe transition from a petroleum-based manufacturing to biomanufacturing is an important step towards a sustainable bio-economy. In particular biotechnological processes which use one carbon (C1) compo...

Beau Dronsella reposted

Helena Schulz-Mirbach
@helenasm.bsky.social

#Growth-coupled #selection just got an update ! In the last years, E. coli selection strains for #central , #amino #acid and #energy metabolism intermediates were created by the community. So, we compiled them and revisit the core concepts of growth coupling. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.comEscherichia coli selection strains for growth-coupled metabolic engineeringSynthetic metabolism has the potential to transform carbon capture, bioremediation, or bioproduction strategies. To transfer metabolic designs from an…

Beau Dronsella reposted

Johannes Rebelein
@rebeleinlab.bsky.social

Leveraging spectroscopic and structural approaches we obtained new insights into the role of #ferredoxins in N2 fixation. Just published in Chemistry – A European Journal: doi.org/10.1002/chem...! Great work by Holly Addison. Fantastic collaboration with Antonio Pierik on the EPR characterization.

doi.orgTwo Key Ferredoxins for Nitrogen Fixation Have Different Specificities and Biophysical PropertiesTwo ferredoxins, FdC and FdN, are collectively essential for the process of nitrogen fixation by the iron nitrogenase in R. capsulatus. We explore the biophysical factors, through spectroscopic and s....

Beau Dronsella reposted

Universität Marburg
@unimarburg.bsky.social

🎉Doppelerfolg für die #UniMarburg in der Exzellenzstrategie! 🎉 Zwei Cluster zu Klimawandel und menschlicher Wahrnehmung sichern sich Förderung. Marburg beweist Forschungsstärke und Innovationskraft.🚀 @proloewe.bsky.social @synmikro.bsky.social @maxplanck.de @jlugiessen.bsky.social @tuda.bsky.social

uni-marburg.deMarburg feiert Doppelerfolg in der ExzellenzstrategieZwei Cluster erhalten Förderung im wichtigsten deutschen Forschungswettbewerb

Beau Dronsella reposted

Edward Smith
@tednsmith.bsky.social

Really impressive work from Ari and the team - going from an idea all the way to a functional pathway using the latest synbio tools! The CORE cycle is another carbon fixing route that could be used as an alternative to photorespiration in plants. Interested to see where this goes next! 🌱📈

Ari Satanowski@ari-satanowski.bsky.social

Excited to share a main project from my PhD, out now in @naturecomms.bsky.social! 📝 We've designed and brought to life the “CORE cycle” – a new-to-nature pathway that provides a novel route for biological CO2 capture 🦠🌱 nature.com/articles/s41... Take a look! Thread below... 🧵

Beau Dronsella
@beaubd.bsky.social

Groundbreaking work just dropped🔥. @ari-satanowski.bsky.social and Daniel Marchal engineered new-to-nature CO2 reduction at ambient conditions via ATP-driven cycles for CO2->formate in vivo. All kinds of fancy experiments in here and a real seminal contribution to the field👏. Check it out!

Ari Satanowski@ari-satanowski.bsky.social

Excited to share a main project from my PhD, out now in @naturecomms.bsky.social! 📝 We've designed and brought to life the “CORE cycle” – a new-to-nature pathway that provides a novel route for biological CO2 capture 🦠🌱 nature.com/articles/s41... Take a look! Thread below... 🧵

Beau Dronsella reposted

Andreas P.M. Weber 🌾🌱🧬
@apmweber.bsky.social

An energy-efficient pathway for aerobic production of formate from CO2, the CORE cycle. Could become part of a novel CO2-fixing photorespiration bypass design. Congrats @ari-satanowski.bsky.social

Ari Satanowski@ari-satanowski.bsky.social

Excited to share a main project from my PhD, out now in @naturecomms.bsky.social! 📝 We've designed and brought to life the “CORE cycle” – a new-to-nature pathway that provides a novel route for biological CO2 capture 🦠🌱 nature.com/articles/s41... Take a look! Thread below... 🧵

Beau Dronsella reposted

Edward Smith
@tednsmith.bsky.social

As well as CO2 Rubisco reacts with O2: plants evolved photorespiration to deal with the consequences. It works, but synthetic biology can do better! 🔄 We used metabolic modeling to compare alternative pathways to boost crop yields 🌱 🧵 #ScienceAdvancesResearch www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.orgAlternatives to photorespiration: A system-level analysis reveals mechanisms of enhanced plant productivityComputational modeling reveals how engineering plants with alternative pathways to photorespiration could boost crop yields.

Beau Dronsella reposted

Andreas P.M. Weber 🌾🌱🧬
@apmweber.bsky.social

"We show that carbon-fixing APs are the most promising candidates to replace native photorespiration in major crop species." Alternatives to photorespiration: A system-level analysis reveals mechanisms of enhanced plant productivity | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.orgAlternatives to photorespiration: A system-level analysis reveals mechanisms of enhanced plant productivityComputational modeling reveals how engineering plants with alternative pathways to photorespiration could boost crop yields.

Beau Dronsella reposted

Stefano Donati
@stefanodonati.bsky.social

📢 Preprint alert! In this study we provide new genomic insights into #CupriavidusNecator for #C1Biomanufacturing: - Genome assemblies for more strains - Species definition refined - Traits & methylation systems explored Great job by @magnusgj.bsky.social and team www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

biorxiv.orgComparative genomic assessment of the Cupriavidus necator species for one-carbon based biomanufacturingThe transition from a petroleum-based manufacturing to biomanufacturing is an important step towards a sustainable bio-economy. In particular biotechnological processes which use one carbon (C1) compo...
Beau Dronsella
@beaubd.bsky.social

🚨Check out this amwesome new CRISPR tool for highly efficient genome engineering in C. necator led by @dellavallesimo.bsky.social and @eorsi.bsky.social 🔥🔥🔥

Enrico Orsi@eorsi.bsky.social

Our brand new CRISPR/Cas toolkit for genome editing of Cupriavidus necator is out🦠🧬 A joint effort w/ @dellavallesimo.bsky.social and Costas (and many more!) Check 🧵 our long journey for developing a new state-of-the-art for the manipulation of this promising bug 1/n www.cell.com/trends/biote...

cell.comStreamlined and efficient genome editing in Cupriavidus necator H16 using an optimised SIBR-Cas systemThis study developed two simple, efficient, and rapid genome editing tools termed Self-splicing Intron-Based Riboswitch-Cas9 (SIBR-Cas9) and SIBR2.0-Cas12a, for editing the genome of the industrially ...
Beau Dronsella
@beaubd.bsky.social

Check out Sebastians crazy effort to engineer E. coli to grow on formate via the synthetic Serine-Threonine-Cycle. In contrast to the rGlyp the STC works even at ambient CO2!🔥

Sebastian Wenk@sebwenk.bsky.social

Interested in Sustainability, Metabolic Engineering and Evolution? Check out how we convinced E. coli to grow on the CO2-derived substrate formic acid using the synthetic Serine Threonine Cycle! ♻️🌱🦠 OPEN ACCESS publication to be found here: 🚨 doi.org/10.1016/j.ym... 🚨 #MEvoSky #microsky (1/🧵)

Beau Dronsella
@beaubd.bsky.social

Check out this amazing work on engineering, characterizing and using six novel glyoxylate sensor strains led by @eorsi.bsky.social and @helenasm.bsky.social 🔥🎊🥳 Read Helenas nice post below to get the full picture.

Helena Schulz-Mirbach@helenasm.bsky.social

Really happy to share that our work on constructing six glyoxylate / glycolate sensors covering a three order of magnitude concentration range is out now in Nature Communications ! 🔥 Read below to see how we developed the sensors and what they are good for 🥳. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.comComputation-aided designs enable developing auxotrophic metabolic sensors for wide-range glyoxylate and glycolate detection - Nature CommunicationsAuxotrophic metabolic sensors (AMS) are vital for bioengineering but are often time-consuming to develop. Here, the authors present a workflow for designing versatile AMS, demonstrating their use for ...

Beau Dronsella reposted

Pablo Ivan Nikel
@pabnik.bsky.social

Computation-aided designs enable developing auxotrophic #metabolic #sensors for wide-range glyoxylate and glycolate detection—spearheaded by Enrico Orsi w/a choral assembly of cool collaborators @naturecomms.bsky.social #SynBio #OpenAccess www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.comComputation-aided designs enable developing auxotrophic metabolic sensors for wide-range glyoxylate and glycolate detection - Nature CommunicationsAuxotrophic metabolic sensors (AMS) are vital for bioengineering but are often time-consuming to develop. Here, the authors present a workflow for designing versatile AMS, demonstrating their use for ...

Beau Dronsella reposted

Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology
@mpimicrobiomarburg.bsky.social

Synthetic Carbon fixation just got a boost 🚀: Synthetic Biology outperformed Nature in a Living Bacterium. Check out the new work from @BDronsella @erblabs together with @NicoC_MicSynBio @MIB_WUR #synbio, #formatebioeconomy

mpi-marburg.mpg.deSynthetic Carbon Assimilation Surpasses NatureFor the first time, an international collaboration has demonstrated that synthetic carbon assimilation can operate more efficiently in a living system than its natural counterpart. Researchers in Tobias Erb’s lab at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology engineered a synthetic metabolic pathway into a bacterium and showed in a direct comparison that it can generate significantly more biomass from the one-carbon compound formic acid and CO₂ than the natural bacterial strain.
Beau Dronsella
@beaubd.bsky.social

Great collaboration with the Bar-Even lab at the @mpi-mp-potsdam.bsky.social , the Erb lab at the @mpimicrobiomarburg.bsky.social and the @mib-wur.bsky.social al @w-u-r.bsky.social.

nature.comOne-carbon fixation via the synthetic reductive glycine pathway exceeds yield of the Calvin cycle - Nature MicrobiologyAn engineered one-carbon-fixation pathway increases biomass yields of Cupriavidus necator compared with the Calvin cycle and can support future, sustainable bio-based production.

Beau Dronsella reposted

Steven Burgess
@sjb287.bsky.social

It's a good week for rubisco enthusiasts - very cool preprint from Ron Milo lab www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... impressive screening of +250 genes spanning available diversity of rubisco, this then used to predict activities of 68,000 known sequences revealing role of phylogeny and habitat

biorxiv.orgRubisco is slow across the tree of lifeRubisco is the main gateway through which inorganic carbon enters the biosphere, catalyzing the vast majority of carbon fixation on Earth. This pivotal enzyme has long been observed to be kinetically ...

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