Bioprospecting in Algal Genomes with Conserved Gene Proximity

Genomes hold the key to unlocking breakthroughs in bioenergy, carbon sequestration, and climate change mitigation. Leveraging insight from natural processes, researchers can design nature-inspired solutions to these challenges. With the successful implementation of an integrated systems biology approach to model, design and engineer high levels of biofuel precursors and value-added products, microalgae have the potential to become major sources of sustainable bioenergy and bioproducts. Toward this goal, over 100 algal whole-genome sequences are either presently available or are soon to be published. Remarkably, over half of the proteins encoded by algal genomes are of unknown function, highlighting both the volume of unique functional capabilities yet to be discovered and a fundamental knowledge gap that limits available design space and impedes successful biosystem design. To address the bottleneck in gene function understanding, we are employing a comparative genomic technique to identify conserved proximal genes. The resulting functional neighborhoods are providing insight into gene function and revealing design principles for the construction of synthetic pathways in algae.