报告题目：Understanding and expanding the cyanobacterial potential for terpenoid production

主讲人：Dr Konstantinos Vavitsas

主讲人简介：

Dr Konstantinos Vavitsas is a CSIRO Future Science Fellow at the University of Queensland, a member of the executive board of Synthetic Biology Australasia, and Community editor for PLOS synbio. He obtained his B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Athens, Greece, and his M.Sc. in Applied Biotechnology from Uppsala University, Sweden. He obtained his PhD on Biotechnology/Synthetic Biology from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, for his work on diterpenoids production in photosynthetic organisms.

报告时间：2018年4月27日，上午 9:30

报告地点：闵行校区生物药学楼2-123会议室

联系人：陶飞  taofei@sjtu.edu.cn

讲座简介：

Terpenoids are one of the largest classes of chemical compounds, some of them with industrial interest as nutraceuticals, biofuels, or chemical feedstock. Even though they are mainly plant-derived compounds, terpenoid production in photosynthetic organisms is rather unexplored, with a few successful studies reported in the literature. In this presentation, I will elaborate on the potential of using plants and cyanobacteria as biosynthetic vessels by linking productivity directly and indirectly on photosynthesis, with a focus on terpenoid production. First, I will theoretically investigate the feasibility of redirecting photosynthetic products—electrons and fixed carbon—towards heterologous compounds. I will subsequently present the full localization of a diterpenoid biosynthetic pathway within the Nicotiana benthamiana chloroplast, and the protein modifications required to achieve this goal.

Faster-growing and simpler photosynthetic systems, however, have a larger bioproduction potential. Therefore, I examine the effects of introducing two heterologous biosynthetic pathways in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, using targeted metabolite analysis and computational modelling. Finally, I will outline some perspectives on the work I will perform as part of my fellowship: development of a modular genetic engineering toolbox for model cyanobacterial species, and its implementation on terpenoid production.