Engineering PQS biosynthesis pathway for enhancement of bioelectricity production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa microbial fuel cells

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

The biosynthesis of the redox shuttle, phenazines, in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an ubiquitous microorganism in wastewater microflora, is regulated by the 2-heptyl-3,4-dihydroxyquinoline (PQS) quorum-sensing system. However, PQS inhibits anaerobic growth of P. aeruginosa. We constructed a P. aeruginosa strain that produces higher concentrations of phenazines under anaerobic conditions by over-expressing the PqsE effector in a PQS negative ΔpqsC mutant. The engineered strain exhibited an improved electrical performance in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and potentiostat-controlled electrochemical cells with an approximate five-fold increase of maximum current density relative to the parent strain. Electrochemical analysis showed that the current increase correlates with an over-synthesis of phenazines. These results therefore demonstrate that targeting microbial cell-to-cell communication by genetic engineering is a suitable technique to improve power output of bioelectrochemical systems.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere63129
JournalPLOS ONE
Volume8
Issue number5
Pages (from-to)e63129
Number of pages7
ISSN1932-6203
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013

    Research areas

  • Bioelectric Energy Sources, Biofilms, Biosynthetic Pathways, Electricity, Genetic Engineering, Hydroxyquinolines, Phenazines, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pyocyanine, Quorum Sensing

ID: 95697683