BIOL 334 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Protein Engineering, Metabolic Pathway

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Biology
• Course: BIOL 334
• Professor: William Charles Plaxton

Document Summary

Metabolic engineering (me) is the use of recombinant dna technology to modify flux of metabolites through metabolic pathways. The goal is to produce new compounds, or to increase or decrease the production of existing compounds. In the case of plant me, this can involve inhibition (knockout) of gene expression or the over-expression of cloned genes. Genes from any source can be used for me: Plant or non-plant (bacterial, yeast, animal, viral) enzyme-coding genes with or without modified kinetic or regulatory properties (protein engineering via directed mutagenesis) Owing to the complexity of cell biology, many molecular & biochemical tools need to be combined to successfully carry out me: A suitable gene & promoter for cell- & tissue-specific expression. Targeting signals to direct protein to proper subcellular location. A good understanding of the process/pathway being manipulated: this highlights the growing gap between our ability to clone, study and manipulate individual genes and proteins, and our fragmented understanding of metabolism and its control.