S44: Design, construction and application of a ‘metabolite valve’ for dynamic control of metabolic flux

Growing interest in a biomass-based economy has led to new efforts to construct and improve microorganisms capable of producing a wide variety of biochemical compounds for uses that include fuels, pharmaceuticals, and commodity and specialty chemicals.  Researchers seeking to construct microbes to produce high levels of natural or novel biochemical compounds rely on tools and techniques from biocatalysis, metabolic engineering, and systems biology.  Increasingly, the ‘parts and devices’ centered approaches of synthetic biology are employed to generate highly-productive strains.  We have utilized such approaches in developing a biological device to dynamically control metabolic flux of glucose.  A ‘parts’ library was used to provide proof-of-concept for the device as well as to profile the cellular response to these static perturbations.  A dynamic flux control device was subsequently designed and constructed.   In this talk, I will describe the elements that comprise this ‘metabolite valve’ and discuss the potential for future applications.