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Metabolic Engineering and Directed Evolution

DNA micro-array.

Accumulation of PHA granules in Rhodobacter shaeroides.

Faculty: Gill, Kompala

Metabolic engineering involves the application of tools and theories from applied mathematics, evolution, biochemistry, cell biology, microbiology, and molecular biology among others for the purposeful engineering of cell behavior.  Metabolic engineers work on a broad range of issues encompassing the production of natural products (such as the antibiotic penicillin), bioconversion of biomass to commodity chemicals (biorefining), the synthesis of biopharmaceutical proteins, as well as environmental (bioremediation) and biomedical (resistance, diabetes) applications.  As such, metabolic engineering is important for a variety of different stakeholders including the chemical (Dupont, Cargill), pharmaceutical (Merck), biotechnological (Amgen, Genentech), and petrochemical (Exxon/Mobil) industries among others.

From the NSF website: http://www.metabolicengineering.gov

Metabolic Engineering is a new approach to understanding and using metabolic processes. As the name implies, ME is the targeted and purposeful alteration of metabolic pathways found in an organism in order to better understand and use cellular pathways for chemical transformation, energy transduction, and supramolecular assembly. Knowledge acquired from this research will benefit society in a number of ways, including the ability to modify biological pathways to produce biological substitutes for less desirable chemical processes; allowing greater agricultural production, permitting more efficient and safer energy production, and; providing better understanding of the metabolic basis for some medical conditions that could assist in the development of new cures.