CAREER: Metabolic Flux Analysis of Photoautotropic Organisms

目前，大多数工业化学品都是从化石燃料中合成的，而化石燃料是一种迅速消耗的不可再生资源。光合生物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，二氧化碳转化为有价值的化学物质的效率很低。为了提高产量，可以通过遗传方法控制代谢途径。然而，选择要改变的基因的基本原理是缺乏的，这源于对遗传和环境相互作用对代谢转化率的影响的理解不足。因此，需要一种分析各种条件下代谢通量的技术。本项目的目的是开发一种新的数学工具和质谱方法来量化单细胞光合生物的代谢通量。基于这项工作的结果，未来有可能设计植物代谢途径，以更有效地生产食物、饲料和药用代谢物。主要教育目标是将代谢和细胞工程原理和方法整合到本科和研究生课程中。这一教育计划的结果是，不同的学生群体将能够批判性地思考用可再生资源生产化学品的方法，这是未来社会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.