In this section

Research

Biological systems - including the simplest cells - exhibit a broad range of functions to thrive in their environment. Research in the Imperial College Centre for Synthetic Biology is focused on the possibility of engineering the underlying biochemical processes to solve many of the challenges facing society, from healthcare to sustainable energy. In particular, we model, analyse, design and build biological and biochemical systems in living cells and/or in cell extracts, both exploring and enhancing the engineering potential of biology.

As part of our research we develop novel methods to accelerate the celebrated Design-Build-Test-Learn synthetic biology cycle. As such research in the Centre for Synthetic Biology highly multi- and interdisciplinary covering computational modelling and machine learning approaches; automated platform development and genetic circuit engineering ; multi-cellular and multi-organismal interactions, including gene drive and genome engineering; metabolic engineering; in vitro/cell-free synthetic biology; engineered phages and directed evolution; and biomimetics, biomaterials and biological engineering.

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Park:2020:10.3389/fbioe.2019.00484,
author = {Park, Y-K and Ledesma-Amaro, R and Nicaud, J-M},
doi = {10.3389/fbioe.2019.00484},
journal = {Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology},
pages = {1--11},
title = {De novo biosynthesis of odd-chain fatty acids in yarrowia lipolytica enabled by modular pathway engineering},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2019.00484},
volume = {7},
year = {2020}
}

Download

RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY - JOUR
AB - Microbial oils are regarded as promising alternatives to fossil fuels as concerns over environmental issues and energy production systems continue to mount. Odd-chain fatty acids (FAs) are a type of valuable lipid with various applications: they can serve as biomarkers, intermediates in the production of flavor and fragrance compounds, fuels, and plasticizers. Microorganisms naturally produce FAs, but such FAs are primarily even-chain; only negligible amounts of odd-chain FAs are generated. As a result, studies using microorganisms to produce odd-chain FAs have had limited success. Here, our objective was to biosynthesize odd-chain FAs de novo in Yarrowia lipolytica using inexpensive carbon sources, namely glucose, without any propionate supplementation. To achieve this goal, we constructed a modular metabolic pathway containing seven genes. In the engineered strain expressing this pathway, the percentage of odd-chain FAs out of total FAs was higher than in the control strain (3.86 vs. 0.84%). When this pathway was transferred into an obese strain, which had been engineered to accumulate large amounts of lipids, odd-chain fatty acid production was 7.2 times greater than in the control (0.05 vs. 0.36 g/L). This study shows that metabolic engineering research is making progress toward obtaining efficient cell factories that produce odd-chain FAs.
AU - Park,Y-K
AU - Ledesma-Amaro,R
AU - Nicaud,J-M
DO - 10.3389/fbioe.2019.00484
EP - 11
PY - 2020///
SN - 2296-4185
SP - 1
TI - De novo biosynthesis of odd-chain fatty acids in yarrowia lipolytica enabled by modular pathway engineering
T2 - Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2019.00484
UR - http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000511332900001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2019.00484/full
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/76899
VL - 7
ER -