Photosynthetic Organisms in Biotechnology and Health
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Biochemistry
Abstract
A broad range of projects is available involving the molecular biology of photosynthetic organisms and their exploitation, including the (no longer photosynthetic) malaria parasite Plasmodium. Previous knowledge of photosynthesis is not necessary for these projects. Specific areas include: (i) Direct electricity production from photosynthetic micro-organisms. Surprisingly, cyanobacterial, purple photosynthetic bacterial and eukaryotic algal cells produce a small amount of external current on illumination, which can be harvested by an anode and used to drive an external circuit. We are interested in understanding how to make these 'biophotovoltaic' devices more efficient. Projects would involve the generation of mutant strains and characterisation of the power output. (ii) Manipulation of photosynthetic microorganisms for production of useful products, and exploitation of 'waste' materials such as anaerobic digestate. This includes work on light harvesting, electron transfer, metabolic engineering and synthetic biology. We are particularly interested in characterising novel cytochromes which may be involved in protection against high light levels. We have a wide range of molecular genetic platforms available. (iii) Novel antimalarial targets. Surprisingly, the malaria parasite Plasmodium has a photosynthetic ancestry and a remnant chloroplast, which is essential for the parasite to survive. This offers an attractive target for antimalarials. We are focusing on transcription of the remnant chloroplast genome and post-transcriptional RNA processing. We have identified a number of candidate nuclear genes for chloroplast proteins that are likely to be involved in these processes.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Christopher Howe (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Barnaby Slater (Student) |
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BB/M011194/1 | 01/10/2015 | 31/03/2024 | |||
| 1644244 | Studentship | BB/M011194/1 | 01/10/2015 | 30/09/2019 | Barnaby Slater |
| Description | Early indications suggest an expression response of cytochrome c6A to photosynthetic stress conditions. Transcriptomics studies have suggested that cytochrome c6A may be involved either directly or indirectly in detecting and responding to light stress. Looking at the ancestry of cytochrome c6 family members suggests that cytochrome c6 evolved first, followed by cytochrome c6B and then cytochrome c6A. Additionally there is no significant evolutionary difference between cytochrome c6B and c6C, therefore suggesting they are the same gene. |
| Exploitation Route | Other research into photosynthesis under stress conditions may wish to incorporate these findings in a model explaining stress pathways in Eukaryotic algae. Understanding these stress pathways can lead to methods to help produce more robust algae for industrial applications. |
| Sectors | Electronics,Energy,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
| Description | Creating CRISPR knockout mutant lines of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii |
| Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
| Department | School of Biological Sciences |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Our role was to characterise the mutant lines once they were created, hopefully to find phenotypes that indicate a function for the knocked out gene. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The lab at Edinburgh designed and carried out the CRISPR mutagenesis procedure and isolated successful lines. |
| Impact | The outcome is a new selection of mutant Chlamydomonas lines with a specific gene knocked out. This gene is the core of the project and therefore having lines of algae with a knock out mutation is of immense value. |
| Start Year | 2017 |