Abstract

Bacterial metabolism is a complex network of hundreds of biochemical reactions. Despite our abundant knowledge about the stoichiometry of metabolic networks, it is still unclear how metabolism is regulated in order to achieve robust function. My group combines multi-omics methods and computational modelling to understand and engineer bacterial metabolism. I will show examples of how we map regulatory interactions by knocking-down single enzymes in E. coli metabolism using CRISPR interference and metabolomics. We also used CRISPR to create thousands of different E. coli strains, each with a different point mutation in an essential protein. This library allows us to systematically quantify the impact of a single mutation on metabolism and physiological parameters like fitness and antibiotic resistance. Finally, I will show how we can use multi-omics methods to construct better production strains for biotechnological applications.