Professor Morgan's research group studies and manipulates metabolic pathways for increased production of natural and new to nature chemicals. These natural products have applications in food, fragrance, health, and fuel industries. We combine molecular biology tools and mathematical modeling of metabolism to enable the rational design and improvement of metabolic pathways.

Metabolic Engineering of Cyanobacteria for the Production of Aromatics

Cyanobacteria are aquatic organisms that fix carbon dioxide into numerous complex biochemicals utilizing energy from the sun. The Morgan group is engineering several species of fast-growing cyanobacteria for production of the aromatic amino acids, tryptophan and phenylalanine, which are widely used in the food and animal feed industries. Advanced mathematical models are applied to understand the systems biology of biosynthesis in microalgae. Specifically, we are studying metabolic rhythms of carbon storage and consumption that take place under day/night cycles. Additionally, we are examining reactor design and operations to scale up the production of algal derived chemicals.

Biosynthesis and Emission of Flower Volatiles

Flowering plants produce a myriad of compounds utilized in protection against herbivores as well as the attraction of pollinators. The biosynthesis of these volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) is studied experimentally by measuring internal pool sizes, emission rates, and enzymatic properties. We combine this information in kinetic models to understand which elements control VOC production rates. Also, we examine the emission of the compounds by diffusion as well as active transport mechanisms.

Metabolic Engineering of the Phenylpropanoid Pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
H Jiang, KV Wood, JA Morgan
Applied and environmental microbiology 71: 2962-2969

Mapping photoautotrophic metabolism with isotopically nonstationary 13C flux analysis
JD Young, AA Shastri, G Stephanopoulos, JA Morgan
Metabolic engineering 13: 656-665

Flux balance analysis of primary metabolism in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
NR Boyle, JA Morgan
BMC systems biology 3: 4

Emission of volatile organic compounds from petunia flowers is facilitated by an ABC transporter
F Adebesin, JR Widhalm, B Boachon, F Lefèvre, B Pierman, JH Lynch, et al.
Science 356: 1386-1388

Introduction of a phenylalanine sink in fast growing cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 11801 leads to improved PSII efficiency, linear electron transport and carbon fixation
A Deshpande, M Marsing, V Singla, IM Ibrahim, S Puthiyaveetil, J Morgan
The Plant Journal 122: e70129