Monitoring alkane degradation by single BioBrick integration to an optimal cellular framework.

Synthetic biology enables rewiring and reconstruction of desirable biochemical routes using well-characterized BioBricks. One goal is to optimize these biological systems in terms of robustness, functionality, and simplicity. Thus, in addition to optimizing the molecular level of the metabolic network, choosing an optimal "chassis" can have a great significance in the constructed system. As an example, this study presents a simplified system for monitoring and studying long-chain n-alkane degradation in Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1 online, provided by a single BioBrick insertion, bacterial luciferase luxAB. The system exploits the natural alkane degradation machinery of ADP1 and a sensitive response of bacterial luciferase to a specific intermediate, providing important aspects to natural alkane degradation kinetics. The study suggests the monitoring system to be applicable in the field of environmental biotechnology and emphasizes the utility of ADP1 as a host in both model systems and applications.