Practical considerations for the encapsulation of multi-enzyme cargos within the bacterial microcompartment for metabolic engineering

Subcellular organization, the sequestration of enzymes and metabolites within a synthetic organelle, is an important emerging technology for the optimization of microbial hosts for industrial applications. The bacterial microcompartment (MCP) performs this sequestration function to enhance various native metabolic processes. The defining feature of the MCP is a protein shell surrounding a series of enzymes. To apply the MCP for metabolic engineering, efforts in the field are directed towards localizing enzymes within the MCP. There have been recent advances in the understanding of protein interactions involved in MCP assembly, the application of encapsulationmediating peptides to model cargos, and control over loading of such cargos. With these techniques, it is possible to encapsulate multi-enzyme cascades.