[Seminar] Natural and synthetic control of resource allocation in bacteria

Seminar

Title: Natural and synthetic control of resource allocation in bacteria  

Speaker: Hidde de Jong

Affiliation: INRIA Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes, France

Host: Claudine Chaouiya and Isabel Rocha (MolBioS PhD Program)

Abstract: 
Microorganisms adapt their physiology and growth rate to changes in nutrient availability in the environment. This involves changes in the expression of a large number of genes, encoding proteins with a variety of cellular functions. Fundamentally, the reorganization of gene expression in response to changes in environmental conditions is a resource allocation problem. It poses the question how microorganisms redistribute their protein synthesis capacity over different cellular functions when constrained by the changing environment. I will give an overview of recent work on resource allocation in bacteria, including novel insights gained by the application of optimal control theory. I will also present an approach to modify natural resource allocation schemes by putting the transcription of a key component of the gene expression machinery, RNA polymerase, under the control of an inducible promoter. By changing the inducer concentration in the medium, the RNA polymerase concentration can be adjusted and thereby bacterial growth switched between zero and the maximal growth rate supported by the medium. I will show that the proposed synthetic growth switch is a promising tool for gaining a better understanding of bacterial physiology and for applications in synthetic biology and biotechnology.