Escherichia coli is a widely studied
model organism and an integral component of the
human gut microbiome, offering significant potential for
bacteria-based therapeutic applications. However,
engineering native E. coli strains poses persistent challenges. In this study, the
chassis- independent
recombinase-assisted
genome engineering technique was leveraged to engineer the native gut strain E. coli EcAZ-1 and the
probiotic strain E. coli Nissle 1917 (EcN). The bioluminescent
lux operon,
green fluorescent protein (GFP), and the
oxygen-independent
fluorescent protein IFP 2.0 were successfully introduced into both strains. To further enhance IFP 2.0
fluorescence, a
heme oxygenase was co-expressed, and the
chromophore biliverdin was supplemented, achieving robust IFP 2.0 expression under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions. Also, both strains were engineered to biosynthesize bioactive compounds, including the
plant- derived
flavonoid naringenin and mycosporine-like amino acids. The results underscore the potential of native E. coli strains as flexible and robust platforms for
synthetic biology, enabling novel applications in biomedical research and therapeutics. Based on these results, this application provides recombinant
bacteria generating IFP2.0
fluorescence under anaerobic condition,
bacterial composition for
gastrointestinal cancer detection and use method thereof, and
naringenin or MAA overproducing recombinant
bacteria.