Simple and predictable gene expression tools are needed in the fields of synthetic biology and metabolic engineering to build complex genetic circuits and optimize the levels of native and heterologous gene products. Tools are needed to control heterologous expression of critical genes as well as modulate expression from existing chromosomal loci without impairing critical native regulation. In this talk, I will discuss my group’s efforts in three areas. First, I will describe the development of two reliable inducible promoters for the promising model cyanobacterium, Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 and their use in engineering lactic acid production from CO2. Second, I will describe our efforts to understand the molecular mechanisms that control RNA turnover in E. coli and PCC 7002, and how the 5’ UTR can impact gene expression. Last, I will describe our efforts to engineer trans-acting regulators based on transcription activator-like effector (TALE) scaffolds.

Regulatory tools for applications in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering

249th National Meeting (2015)

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