Rational Microbial Engineering: Leveraging Synthetic Biology & Functional Genomics

In recent decades the dramatic reduction in the costs of both DNA sequencing and DNA synthesis have enabled a new era in synthetic biology, wherein the ability to synthesize entire biological systems including enzymatic pathways, genetic circuits and even now whole micro-organisms is feasible. Unfortunately our understanding of how to predictably and rationally design complex biological systems is still lagging. This can be attributed to a remaining lack in understanding of the complex inter-relationships between an organism¿s genotype, its phenotype and the environment. High throughput functional genomics approaches, that take advantage of newer synthetic biology tools, offer a way to systematically and quantitatively understand the genotype, phenotype, environment relationship. A key goal of these approaches to elicit fundamental biological understanding that can then enable rational design. Several quantitative functional genomic tools will be discussed as they apply to the understanding of a few complex microbial phenotypes. Also to be reviewed is the production of the key metabolite malonyl-coA and how the results of these methodologies can be translated into a commercial context.