Achievement

Daniel Barrera is using high-throughput genetic screening techniques combined with next generation sequencing in order to understand the influence of nuclear gene products on chloroplast gene regulation in the microalgae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Previous research has shown that the greatly reduced chloroplast genome and its transcripts are regulated by nuclear-derived proteins (eg. transcription, translation factors) to construct and maintain a functional photosynthetic apparatus. Using fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and the green fluorescent protein (GFP) as a reporter, Daniel has been able to recover nuclear insertional mutants with an alleviated feedback inhibition checkpoint for the regulatory elements of the photosystem II gene psbA. This research was made possible through this great IGERT Program, and can impact agricultural production of microalgae for biofuel and recombinant protein production purposes.