Laying the Foundation for Deep Carbon Reduction–Academia Sinica Creates the First “Synthetic Methylotropic Single Strain” Academia Sinica President James C. Liao and his research team have successfully created the first “synthetic methylotroph” from E. coli by using laboratory evolution. Their research identified key enzymes with a unique metabolic calculation model known as “Ensemble Modeling for Robustness Analysis”, and modified E. coli through gene editing. Synthetic methylotrophs can convert methanol into high value chemicals, medicines, and fuels, forming a new carbon cycle that will help with carbon reduction. The research team used electron microscopy, proteomics, and three different gene sequencing techniques to discover the death mechanism of cells, which allowed them to devise a way of creating a “synthetic methylotropic single strain” while avoiding toxicity from methanol. The team’s research article announcing this discovery was published in Cell , and hailed as “the new benchmark for synthetic biology”. “This research incorporates a mathematical model to identify critical enzymes for gene editing, followed by laboratory evolution, electron microscopic imaging, and multi-omics analysis. An independent result accomplished at Academia Sinica, this research required years of devoted efforts by highly talented members and advanced core facilities.” –President James C. Liao
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