CAREER: Metabolic Flux Analysis of Photoautotropic Organisms

目前大多数工业化学品是从化石燃料中合成的，化石燃料是一种快速耗尽和不可再生的资源。光合作用的有机体有可能通过固定二氧化碳和从阳光中获得的能量来生物合成这些化学物质。目前，由于对中心代谢前体的竞争，将二氧化碳转化为有价值的化学品的效率很低。为了提高产量，可以通过遗传方法来操纵代谢途径。然而，缺乏选择改变基因的理由，这源于对遗传和环境相互作用对代谢转化率的影响缺乏了解。因此，需要一种分析各种条件下代谢通量的技术。本项目的目标是开发一种新的数学工具和质谱学方法来量化单细胞光合作用生物体中的代谢通量。根据这项工作的结果，有可能在未来设计植物代谢途径，以更有效地生产食物、饲料和药物代谢物。主要的教育目标是将代谢和细胞工程的原理和方法整合到本科生和研究生的课程中。作为这一教育计划的结果，不同的学生群体将能够批判性地思考利用可再生资源生产化学品的方法，这是社会未来面临的关键问题之一。

John A. MorganBES-0348458The majority of industrial chemicals are currently synthesized from fossil fuels, which are a rapidly depleting and non-renewable resource. Photosynthetic organisms have the potential to biosynthesize these chemicals through the fixation of CO2 with energy obtained from sunlight. Currently, the transformation of CO2 into valuable chemicals is inefficient as a result of the competition for central metabolic precursors. To improve production, the metabolic pathways can be manipulated by genetic methods. However, a rationale for selecting genes to alter is lacking, which stems from the poor understanding of the influence of genetic and environmental interactions on the rates of metabolic conversions. Therefore, a technique that analyzes metabolic fluxes under various conditions is needed. The objective of this project is to develop a novel mathematical tool and mass spectrometry methods to quantify metabolic fluxes in unicellular photosynthetic organisms. Based upon results from this work, it may be possible to engineer plant metabolic pathways for the more efficient production of food, feed and medicinal metabolites in the future. The primary educational objective is to integrate metabolic and cellular engineering principles and methodologies into the undergraduate and graduate curriculum. As a result of this educational plan, a diverse group of students will be able to think critically about methods to produce chemicals from renewable resources, one of the key future problems facing society.