Systems biology-driven discovery and enhanced production of natural products

Project Summary

Natural products are our largest source of therapeutic molecules. Over the past decade, sequencing bacterial genomes has revealed an immense reservoir of biosynthetic genes that have the potential to produce bioactive molecules. However, the majority of these genes appear to be inactive for unknown reasons. Methods to activate these silent clusters would have a profound impact on drug discovery. At AIBN, we use systems biology for awakening silent gene clusters or increase its expression. The approach combines high-throughput ‘omics with synthetic biology. The application of this strategy promises to uncover the regulatory networks that activate silent gene clusters while at the same time providing access to the vast array of cryptic molecules found in bacteria.