Title
「Understanding and Harnessing the Power of Microbial Communities: System and Synthetic Biology Approaches」 ポスター🔗
Lecturer
Prof. Xiaoxia Nina Lin（ミシガン大学）
Date, Time & Venue
2025年6月27日（金） 15:00-16:00 医学部構内先端科学研究棟 1F大セミナー室
Abstract
Microbes are everywhere in nature and they live in diverse communities that show remarkable
metabolic capabilities and robustness. On the other hand, disruption of microbiome homeostasis
and associated changes in the community’s structure/function underlies numerous health or
environmental issues. My lab has been developing methods and tools rooted in engineering to
study microbial communities in order to discover the underlying ecological, cellular, and
molecular mechanisms. In particular, we have pioneered a technological pipeline, based on
nanoliter-scale water-in-oil microfluidic droplets, to co-cultivate sub-communities and
characterize interactions between community members. A number of technological modules
have been created and the pipeline is being applied to the investigation of a range of health or
environment related microbiomes. A second distinct yet complementary research thrust in my
lab, inspired by naturally occurring synergistic microbial communities, has been the design and
construction of synthetic consortia for microbial engineering. As an example, we have developed
a high-throughput strain screening method based on compartmentalized co-cultivation. We have
also engineered a portfolio of modular microbial consortia for bioprocessing. For instance, to
make use of lignocellulosic biomass, we designed and optimized a consortium consisting of a
cellulolytic fungus capable of hydrolyzing hemicellulose and cellulose (main components of
lignocellulosic biomass) into mono and oligosaccharides and a genetically engineered bacterium
for converting mono and oligosaccharides into isobutanol, an advanced biofuel. The general
framework of engineering defined co-cultures of coordinated specialists offers tremendous
potential for developing novel biotechnologies for numerous applications in biomanufacturing
and bioremediation.
Contact
統合生命科学専攻 生態進化学分野
生命情報解析教育センター【CeLiSIS】
東樹 宏和（toju.hirokazu.4c@kyoto-u.ac.jp）
