Scientists at the University of Delaware have successfully engineered bacteria to produce a non-standard amino acid called pN-Phe, which shows potential for medical applications such as vaccines and immunotherapies. The research, led by Aditya Kunjapur from the College of Engineering’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has been published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.
Amino acids are essential building blocks of proteins, crucial for the proper functioning of biological structures. While nature offers a wide range of over 500 distinct amino acids, scientists have also created synthetic amino acids with promising applications in pharmaceuticals and therapeutic treatments.
In this study, the researchers focused on para-nitro-L-phenylalanine (pN-Phe), a non-standard amino acid that has not been observed in nature. Previous research has shown that pN-Phe has implications in regulating the immune system and stimulating the immune response to proteins that are typically ignored.
Using genetic engineering and synthetic biology techniques, the researchers successfully taught a single bacterial strain to produce pN-Phe and incorporate it into specific sites within target proteins. This groundbreaking achievement provides a foundation for developing unique vaccines and immunotherapies.
The researchers plan to optimize their methods to synthesize larger quantities of nitrated proteins and expand their work to other microorganisms. Their long-term goal is to refine this platform for applications related to vaccines and immunotherapies. This research is supported by Aditya Kunjapur’s 2021 AIChE Langer Prize and the 2022 National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award. Additionally, Kunjapur and Neil Butler, the first author of the research paper, have co-founded Nitro Biosciences to further support their long-term goal.
The ability to engineer bacteria to produce target antigens within the body could make them valuable drug delivery vehicles. By leveraging the malleability of bacterial metabolism and the unique properties of pN-Phe, this research opens up new possibilities for medical advancements.
The study, titled “A platform for distributed production of synthetic nitrated proteins in live bacteria,” was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.