Overview

Title: CRISPR-based transcriptional activation tools for silent genes in filamentous fungi
Date: 17th November 2021
Time: 7:00am PST, 10:00am EST, 4:00pm CET, 12:00am KST (11/18)

Summary

Filamentous fungi are historically known to be a rich reservoir of bioactive compounds that are applied in a myriad of fields ranging from crop protection to medicine. The surge of genomic data available shows that fungi remain an excellent source for new pharmaceuticals. However, most of the responsible biosynthetic gene clusters are transcriptionally silent under laboratory growth conditions. Therefore, generic strategies for the activation of these clusters are required. Here, we present a genome-editing-free, transcriptional regulation tool for filamentous fungi, based on the CRISPR activation (CRISPRa) methodology.

Learning Objectives:

-Discuss the generation of a CRISPRa / dCas9-VPR system for transcriptional activation
-Describe the advantages and disadvantages of Synthetic Transcription Factors
-Discuss modular cloning-based synthetic transcription unit constructions

Speakers

Dr. Laszlo Mozsik Postdoctoral Researcher, Leiden University

Laszlo is a synthetic biology enthusiast, who developed various synthetic biology tools for filamentous fungi. During his Ph.D., developed tools for CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing, assembling synthetic genetic circuits, creating synthetic transcriptional regulators, as well as developing a CRISPR-based transcriptional activation (CRISPRa) of transcriptionally silent gene clusters in filamentous fungi and natural product discovery. Following his Ph.D. studies in the laboratory of Arnold Driessen at the University of Groningen, Laszlo joined the group of Arthur Ram at Leiden University as a postdoctoral researcher.