Difference between revisions of "Global Transcriptome Machinery Engineering"
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Researchers Alper et al. (2006) were interested in creating a strain of yeast with improved ethanol tolerance and production. | Researchers Alper et al. (2006) were interested in creating a strain of yeast with improved ethanol tolerance and production. | ||
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The ethanol resistance and production phenotypes are regulated by many different factors in the yeast cell. A complete model of how the yeast genome relates to these phenotypes has not be described as of yet. | The ethanol resistance and production phenotypes are regulated by many different factors in the yeast cell. A complete model of how the yeast genome relates to these phenotypes has not be described as of yet. | ||
Revision as of 07:42, 6 December 2007
The Goal
Researchers Alper et al. (2006) were interested in creating a strain of yeast with improved ethanol tolerance and production.
The Experiment
The ethanol resistance and production phenotypes are regulated by many different factors in the yeast cell. A complete model of how the yeast genome relates to these phenotypes has not be described as of yet.
The researchers needed a method to test changes multiple cell-wide in yeast to engineer a strain of yeast with increased ethanol tolerance and production.
The Solution in Theory
Instead of randomizing the genes for the desired phenotype themselves, most of which are unknown, the researchers chose to create a mutant library of a known transcription factor, SPT15. The team hypothesized that small changes to this transcription factor would affect gene expression cell wide in yeast. Hypothetically,
A certain mutated transcription factor, therefore, might cause upregulation certain genes and downregulation of others to form a robust new yeast cell, which could then be found in selection tests.
FIGURE
