Linking engineered gene circuits kinetic modelling to cellulose biosynthesis prediction in Escherichia coli: towards bioprocessing of microbial cell factories

Microbial cell factories synthesise value-added products; their bioprocessing with the aid of synthetic and systems biology represents a green and sustainable alternative to the traditional chemical industry. Currently, bioprocess performance prediction of microbial cell factories is limited. Herein, we present a rational modelling approach linking the designed engineered gene circuit to bioprocess kinetics whereby the engineered gene circuit model informs the formulation of product biosynthesis and is coupled to microbial growth. We achieve dynamic gene expression and estimation of enzyme synthesis of the gene circuit. Significantly, this modelling approach considers plasmid stability, which may decrease the productivity of recombinant systems. We demonstrate the validity of the approach using a bacterial cellulose (BC) biosynthesis cell factory in Escherichia coli. This kinetic model is a practical and complementary approach to systems and synthetic biology for the robust operation of microbial cell fac...