Design of novel synthetic yeast promoters based on in silico approaches

Abstract

Microorganisms of the yeast group are very important for several biotechnological applications. In recent years, several studies have focused on the engineering of synthetic circuits in yeasts aiming to both expand the metabolic and biosynthetic capacities of these organisms and increase their tolerance to aggressive environmental conditions such as those related to different industrial processes. In these works, it has been observed that a major limitation for the construction of synthetic circuits in yeast is the reduced number of modular and customizable regulatory elements that respond to the conditions of interest. Our group has been developing in recent years a series of computational and experimental approaches to the development of synthetic promoters in bacteria. In this project, we will cover the expansion of these approaches aiming at the in silico design and in vivo characterization of new synthetic promoters for Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast. Thus, the main focus of the project will be the construction of new genetic algorithms that allow the combination of cis-regulatory elements for S. cerevisiae transcription factors. It is expected that new synthetic materials of biotechnological relevance will be obtained, as well as a new methodology for obtaining them. (AU)