Speaker: Prof. Lixin Zhang 张立新
Host: Prof. Zihe Rao
Time: 16:15, Friday, Dec. 13 2019
Venue: Auditorium, Y Building
Abstract:
We are entering a New Golden Age of microbial natural products (MNP) drug discovery, which used to be hurdled by that pharmaceutical companies have been traditionally designed to target individual factors in a disease system, but diseases are complex in nature and vulnerable at multiple attacks. Therefore, a systematic novel synergistic drug screening approach based on a multifactorial principle is urgently needed, especially from MNP library. Besides their pesticide activities, avermectins (AVMs) are identified as potent antibiotic agents for a wide range of drug-resistant pathogens by a high-throughput synergy screening strategy. To rewire the genetic circuitry controlling low yields, we summarized the work on balancing the biological chassis with functional parts, and optimized their dynamical process, as well as predicted favorable effective overproduction of AVMs by 5Ms strategy. The cellular triacylglycerol (TAG) pool enables more carbon flux to be redirected towards polyketide biosynthesis. AVMs are exclusively made in China now and intelligences learned from the success of AVMs will help transform microbes into a true power-house of innovation.
