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Systems Metabolic Engineering of Yeast for Utilizing Pentose Sugar and Producing Fatty Acids-derived Chemicals
(Seminar/Conference)
Dr. Xueyang Feng, University of Illinois
Shen Postdoctoral Fellow
Energy Biosciences Institute - Illinois
Candidate for VT/BSE Faculty Position
Abstract
Yeast species such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been tamed for food and alcohol production for thousands of years. The potential of yeasts to produce drugs, biofuels, and other value-added chemicals has recently been explored in the emerging field of metabolic engineering. Despite tremendous breakthroughs in engineering yeast for biochemical production, one of the biggest challenges that has not yet been satisfactorily overcome is the complex cellular metabolism. Specifically, the metabolic behaviors of yeasts are the result of coordinated regulations of genes, proteins and metabolites. One of the promising approaches to solve this problem is systems metabolic engineering, a new concept that integrates systems biology with metabolic engineering. In this talk, I will focus on developing and applying systems biology tools, including 13C Metabolic Flux Analysis (13C-MFA) and RNAseq analysis, to decode the regulation of yeast metabolisms and help the improvement of xylose utilization. I will also illustrate how yeast can be rationally engineered from "zero-to-hero" in terms of fatty alcohol production with the insightful knowledge of metabolic regulations
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(540) 231-7601