Toward sustainable diesel production using microbial cells: unravelling isoprenoid pathway regulation through systems biology

甲基赤藓糖醇焦磷酸(MEP)合成异戊二烯的途径是生物化学中必不可少的途径。它在十年前才被完全阐明，对这一途径的监管控制还不清楚。本项目的目的是利用一种新的系统生物学方法来阐明在大肠杆菌中MEP途径被控制的机制。需要了解MEP途径的控制，才能深入了解这一重要途径的动态平衡控制，并使大肠杆菌的生物技术工程能够生产各种工业上有用的异戊二烯类化合物(包括生物燃料、药品、工业化学品、中性食品、食品添加剂、香水等)。

The methylerythritol pyrophosphate (MEP) pathway for isoprenoid production is an essential biochemical pathway. It was only fully elucidated a decade ago, and the regulatory controls over this pathway are not understood. The objective of this project is to elucidate the mechanisms by which the MEP pathway is controlled in E. coli using a novel systems biology approach. Understanding control of the MEP pathway is required to gain insight into homeostatic control of this essential pathway, and enable biotechnological engineering of E. coli in order to produce a wide range of industrially useful isoprenoids (including biofuels, pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals, neutraceuticals, food additives, perfumes and many more).