The Department of Biochemistry's weekly BCH 252 seminar series is presented this week by:

Shuang Wei, PhD Candidate, BCMB Graduate Program, UC Riverside 

Seminar Title: "Global rewiring of cellular metabolism in non conventional yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus by designing novel transcription factors for inducible gene expression"

Abstract: Among the so-called non-conventional yeasts, Kluyveromyces marxianus has extremely potent traits that are suitable for industrial applications. Indeed, it has been used for the production of various enzymes, chemicals, and macromolecules in addition to utilization of cell biomass as nutritional materials, feed and probiotics. Strain engineering, however, has been limited due to a lack of advanced genome-editing tools and an incomplete understanding of ester and ethanol biosynthesis. A general method for the dynamic control of single gene expression in eukaryotes, with no off-target effects, is a long-sought tool for molecular and systems biologists. We design an inducible multi gene expression system by using modular transcription factors that can stimulate or inhibit the expression of targeted genes in yeast. The ability to regulate the expression of any targeted gene using a ‘programmable’ transcription factor offers a powerful tool for functional genomics and bears tremendous promise in developing the field of transcription-based therapeutics. This tool was designed and optimized in the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but it could be widely applied to most yeast strains. 

Faculty Host: Ernest Martinez; ernest.martinez@ucr.edu