Multi-user equipment approved in grant 16/06601-4: fluorescence microscope

• Grant number: 23/02511-4
• Support Opportunities: Multi-user Equipment Program
• Start date: June 01, 2023
• End date: May 31, 2030
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Molecular Biology
• Principal Investigator: Flavia Vischi Winck
• Grantee: Flavia Vischi Winck
• Host Institution: Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura (CENA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 16/06601-4 - Integrative systems approach for the study of gene expression regulatory networks related to biomass production in microalgae, AP.BIOEN.JP

Abstract

The socioeconomic and environmental challenges associated with the use of fossil fuels and the increase on global energy demand and air and water pollutants can be faced through the development of sustainable production of clean energy and chemicals. The integration of microalgae based bioremediation and production of renewable biomass appears as a promising sustainable path for the production of bioenergy and chemicals. Despite the advances in microalgae cultivation, the generation of biomass for massive fuel and chemicals production is still limiting. Therefore, a better understanding on how changes of environmental factors, such as carbon source, nutrients and light affect microalgae biomass composition and accumulation is necessary. External abiotic stimuli (e.g., temperature, light, CO2) can induce phenotypic alterations through changes in the underlying gene regulatory networks (e.g., transcriptional profile, network rewiring). The identification of the components of gene regulatory networks (GRNs), including cis and transregulatory elements, and the concomitant quantification of gene transcripts, proteins and metabolites in a time resolved manner is of crucial importance to understand the actual regulatory network structure and its dynamic behavior. Thus, in the present proposal, we aim to generate and to integrate multiomics data in a time resolved systems biology framework to elucidate, in the microalgae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, GRNs related to the control of cellular responses to nitrogen deprivation and salt stress under photoautotrophic and mixotrophic conditions. This approach will allowus to uncover biological and regulatory subnetworksresponsible for the control of biomass production andaccumulation of chemicals of biotechnological interest. The data generated will be useful for theoretical modelingand simulations and it will serve as the basis for the development of metabolic engineering and synthetic biologyapplications in microalgae, with possibilities to be extended to land plants and yeast strains in the future. (AU)