Pablo Iván Nikel - Harnessing the metabolic potential of environmental bacteria using SynBio tools

The last few years have witnessed an exponential increase in the number of bacteria that can be used as microbial cell platforms in practical applications. The microorganisms which are the easiest to manipulate genetically (i.e., the so-called "model" bacteria, such as Escherichia coli or Bacillus subtilis) are often not adequate to perform given biotechnological applications (e.g., harsh oxidations or dehalogenation reactions). Contemporary Synthetic Biology endeavors rely on the adoption of specific bacterial chasses for plugging-in and -out genetic circuits and engineer new-to-Nature functionalities. Against this background, environmental bacteria, such as Pseudomonas strains, constitute ideal starting points to design flawless microbial cell platforms, since these microorganisms are pre-endowed with a number of metabolic and stress-endurance traits that are optimal for biotechnological needs. Recent developments on the taming of P. putida for biotechnological applications will be discussed in the context of Synthetic Biology strategies for [i] re-designing the metabolic architecture of central carbon catabolism and [ii] manipulating catalytic biofilms through Synthetic Morphology approaches.