(129a) Invited Talk: Metabolic Engineering Strategies Towards Enhancing Synthetic Capability of Microbial Systems

The use of microbial systems for synthetic purposes holds significant promise in the realm of green manufacturing. However, in order to fully unleash the potential of these systems, it is imperative to broaden the range of products that can be synthesized and improve the efficiency of biosynthesis. Achieving these goals necessitates concerted efforts in two areas: constructing synthetic pathways for compounds that are beyond the scope of natural hosts and developing overproducing strains. These efforts require the identification of new enzymes or the creation of novel enzymatic activities that can function in non-natural pathways, as well as the reprogramming of cellular metabolism and regulation to better support biosynthetic activities. In this seminar, I will present a selection of projects that showcase our understanding and experience in these fields, including: 1) repurposing enzymes to enable microbial synthesis of diverse specialty chemicals, and 2) establishing modifiable carbon metabolism coordination and regulation to promote carbon-efficient production.