In nature, microbes live in a complex equilibrium of competition, cooperation and mutualism. Natural products (or secondary metabolites) mediate these interspecies interactions and responses to ecological changes, dictating the rules of microbial co-existence. This has led to the evolution of an astonishing array of complex natural products that can be harnessed to address critical global health and planetary challenges.
The Pereira lab works on decoding the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of secondary metabolism and the coexistence of microbial communities through three research themes:
- Systematic characterization of the molecular mechanisms that regulate secondary metabolism.
- Uncovering the impact of secondary metabolism in microbial diversity and community coexistence.
- Engineer strains and synthetic communities for enhanced production of secondary metabolites.
We employ evolutionary, systems and synthetic biology approaches to characterize the molecular mechanisms regulating primary and secondary metabolism to address the current challenges in natural product discovery (e.g., controlled production of silent and low-abundant natural products and scale-up production).
We also work on decoding the impact of microbial communities in inducing the production of natural products and their impact on community assembly and evolution. Integrating systems and synthetic biology, we design high-performance microbial strains for the discovery and controlled production of target natural products to accelerate the discovery and development of new therapeutic leads.