Plant synthetic biology for biofuel production
Interdisciplinary Areas: | Others |
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Project Description
Plants are a promising and sustainable source for biofuel production. Recent advances in synthetic biology are enabling the rapid discovery, engineering and evolution of metabolic pathways to optimize the re-direction of carbon fluxes towards valuable biofuel molecules. 2-phenylethanol is a target molecule that has proven value as a fuel additive which we have previously engineered the production of in the experimental model plant Arabidopsis. Based on a mathematical kinetic analysis of the metabolic pathways, we have identified gene targets for future metabolic engineering. Moreover, we plan to transfer the pathway into promising biofuel plants such as fast growing Poplar. The post-doctoral fellow will be trained with the latest genetic engineering tools, -omics technologies, and mathematical modeling and data sciences. The fellow will join a multidisciplinary team that bridges plant biochemistry and chemical engineering.
Start Date
June 2021
Postdoc Qualifications
Ph.D. in Chemical or Biological Engineering or in Plant Biology/ Biochemistry
Ideally the candidate will have experience with several of the following skills: mathematical modeling of metabolic pathways, enzyme assays, plant transformation, metabolomics by gas and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.
Co-Advisors
John A. Morgan, jamorgan@purdue.edu, Professor in the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering
Natalia Dudareva, dudareva@purdue.edu, Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry Department
References
Guo, L., Wang, P, Jaini, R., Dudareva, N., Chapple, C., and Morgan, J.A. (2018) Dynamic modeling of subcellular phenylpropanoid metabolism in Arabidopsis lignifying cells. Metabolic Engineering 49, 36-46.
Boyle, N.R., Sengupta, N., and Morgan, J.A (2017) Metabolic flux analysis of Heterotrophic Growth in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. PLoS One 12 5
Adebesin et al. (2017) Emission of volatile organic compounds from petunia flowers is facilitated by an ABC transporter. Science 356:1386-1388.
Jaini R, Wang P, Dudareva N, Chapple C, Morgan J. A. (2017) Targeted Metabolomics of the Phenylpropanoid Pathway in Arabidopsis thaliana using Reversed Phase Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Tandem Mass Spectrometry. Phytochem. Anal.28: 267-276.
Young, J., Shastri, A., Stephanopoulos, G. and Morgan, J.A. (2011) Isotopically nonstationary 13C flux analysis identifies routes of carbon loss and reveals suboptimal photoautotrophic growth of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 Metabolic Engineering 13:656-665.