PUBLICATION

Novel protein carrier system based on cyanobacterial nano-sized extracellular vesicles for application in fish

Authors
Matinha-Cardoso, J., Coutinho, F., Lima, S., Eufrásio, A., Carvalho, A.P., Oliva-Teles, A., Bessa, J., Tamagnini, P., Serra, C.R., Oliveira, P.
ID
ZDB-PUB-220415-5
Date
2022
Source
Microbial biotechnology   15(8): 2191-2207 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Bessa, Jose
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Biotechnology
  • Extracellular Vesicles*/metabolism
  • Synechocystis*/genetics
  • Synechocystis*/metabolism
  • Zebrafish
PubMed
35419949 Full text @ Microb Biotechnol
Abstract
Aquaculture has been one of the fastest-growing food industry sectors, expanding at the pace of consumers' demands. To promote safe and effective fish growth performance strategies, and to stimulate environmentally friendly solutions to protect fish against disease outbreaks, new approaches are needed to safeguard fish welfare, as well as farmers and consumers interests. Here, we tested the use of cyanobacterial extracellular vesicles (EVs) as a novel nanocarrier system of heterologous proteins for applications in fish. We started by incubating zebrafish larvae with Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 EVs, isolated from selected mutant strains with different cell envelope characteristics. Results show that Synechocystis EVs are biocompatible with fish larvae, regardless of their structural composition, as EVs neither induced fish mortality nor triggered significant inflammatory responses. We establish also that cyanobacteria are amenable to engineering heterologous protein expression and loading into EVs, for which we used the reporter sfGFP. Moreover, upon immersion treatment, we successfully demonstrate that sfGFP-loaded Synechocystis EVs accumulate in the gastrointestinal tract of zebrafish larvae. This work opens the possibility of using cyanobacterial EVs as a novel biotechnological tool in fish, with prospective applications in carrying proteins/enzymes, for example for modulating their nutritional status or stimulating specific adaptive immune responses.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping