An upp-based markerless gene replacement method for genome reduction and metabolic pathway engineering in Pseudomonas mendocina NK-01 and Pseudomonas putida KT2440

A markerless gene replacement method was adapted by combining a suicide plasmid, pEX18Tc, with a counterselectable marker, the upp gene encoding uracil phosphoribosyltransferase (UPRTase), for the medium-chain length polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAMCL)-producing strain Pseudomonas mendocina NK-01. An NK-01 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) resistant background strain was first constructed by deleting the chromosomal upp gene. The suicide plasmid pEX18Tc, carrying a functional allele of the upp gene of P. mendocina NK-01, was used to construct the vectors to delete the algA (encoding mannose-1-phosphate guanylyltransferase) and phaZ (encoding PHAMCL depolymerase) genes, and a 30 kb chromosomal fragment in the 5-FU resistant background host. The genes were removed efficiently from the genome of P. mendocina NK-01 and left a markerless chromosomal mutant. In addition, two exogenous genes were inserted into the phaC1 (PHAMCL polymerase) loci of Pseudomonas putida KT-∆UPP simultaneously. Thus, we constructed a genetically stable and marker-free P. putida KT2440 mutant with integrated mpd (encoding methyl parathion hydrolase (MPH)) and pytH (encoding a pyrethroid-hydrolyzing carboxylesterase (PytH)) gene on the chromosome. The upp-based counterselection system could be further adapted for P. mendocina NK-01 and P. putida KT2440 and used for genome reduction and metabolic pathway engineering.