Regulation of lipid biosynthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

随着世界寻求摆脱对石油作为燃料和化学品主要来源的依赖，人们对发展生物经济以寻找替代品的兴趣越来越大。油的主要生物来源是油菜和棕榈等植物。这些来源的石油是可再生的，但我们对其成分和性质的控制有限。此外，使用食用油进行化学或燃料生产存在固有的问题。在世界上一些棕榈种植园覆盖了大片可耕地的地方，这一问题被放大，导致雨林被烧毁和生物多样性丧失。此外，依赖这些油和产品的行业面临着供应链可能因生长季节不佳或真菌感染而中断。 酵母细胞可以将低价值的生物质转化为称为单细胞油的油。这项研究计划的目标是发现如何控制这些油的生产和成分。我们采用各种尖端技术来研究酵母中的油脂生产，重点是细胞中众多的酶活性是如何协调的，以创造具有特定特性的产品。我们的目标是利用这些信息来修改细胞，以生产石油和生物产品，否则将从石化产品或罕见的，难以从植物来源生产。我们已经发现，在产生单不饱和脂肪酸的酶之间存在特定的物理相互作用，这些酶将这些脂肪酸捕获到一个限制它们流向其他产品的途径中。我们试图定义这些相互作用，以增加我们对脂质生物合成的理解，并帮助我们绘制路线图，以指导我们在工程细胞方面的努力，使其成为“按需”生产所需油或具有特定特性的生物产品的设计师工厂。事实上，微生物细胞有潜力生产油，如多不饱和欧米伽3油或可可脂，这些油很有价值，但很难或不可能通过化学方法合成。 生物技术和生物制品部门正在加拿大迅速扩大，我的研究计划旨在不仅提供技术，而且提供训练有素的人员，他们具有最先进的应用技能，以推动该部门的发展，并填补其成功所需的高技能职位。

As the world seeks to move away from dependence on petroleum as a primary source for fuels and chemicals there is growing interest in developing the bioeconomy to find replacements. A primary biological source of oils is plants like canola and palm. The oil from these sources is renewable but we have limited control over its composition and properties. Additionally, there is an inherent problem with using food oil for chemical or fuel production. This problem is amplified in parts of the world where palm plantations cover enormous swaths of the arable land leading to burning of rainforest and loss of biodiversity. Additionally, industries that depend on these oils and products face a supply chain that can be disrupted by a poor growing season, or fungal infection. Yeast cells can convert low value biomass into oils referred to as single cell oils. The goal of this research program is to discover how the production and composition of these oils is controlled. We employ a variety of cutting edge technologies to investigate oil production in yeast with an emphasis on how numerous enzyme activities in the cells are coordinated to create products with specific properties. We aim to use this information to modify the cells to produce oil and bioproducts that would otherwise be produced from petrochemicals or that are rare and difficult to produce from vegetable sources. We have discovered that there are specific physical interactions among enzymes that produce mono-unsaturated fatty acids that trap those fatty acids into a pathway that limits them from flowing toward other products. We seek to define these interactions to increase our understanding of lipid biosynthesis and aid us in drawing a roadmap to guide our efforts in engineering cells to become designer factories that produce desired oils or bioproducts with specific properties "on demand". Indeed microbial cells have the potential to produce oils like poly-unsaturated omega 3 oils or cacao butter that are valuable but difficult or impossible to synthesize chemically. The biotechnology and bioproducts sector is rapidly expanding in Canada and my research program aims to provide not only technology but also high trained personnel with skills in state of the art applications to drive this sector and fill the high skilled positions necessary for its success.