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Dr. Marna Yandeau-Nelson’s research interests focus on the dissection of the genetic networks that underlie metabolic processes.  The team integrates classical and molecular genetic, biochemistry, metabolomic, computational and bioinformatic approaches to dissect the metabolic and gene networks that underlie the production of fatty acids and downstream compounds in both plants and microbes.   

I. Understanding the genetic network of plant cuticle lipids and their protective properties against environmental stresses: My group is using the stigmatic silks of maize as the model system to dissect the genetic and metabolic networks responsible for the synthesis of plant cuticle lipids, which are derived from fatty acids and accumulate on the aerial surfaces of plants. We are using the cuticle lipid metabolome as the model to study how the organism adapts and protects plant surfaces from environmental stresses. This work aims to reveal unique mechanisms that produce the distinctive surface chemistries that plants utilize to gain protection from environmental stresses. Based on the chemical similarity of surface lipid constituents to components of petroleum, this work has potential applications in bioengineering these networks to produce advance biofuels in heterologous systems (e.g. algae). Project website

II. Harnessing natural metabolic pathways for the production of biorenewable compounds: The ISU-based, NSF-funded Center for Biorenewable Chemicals (CBiRC) is leading the emerging bio-based chemical field by developing a flexible platform that combines biological and chemical catalysis to produce precursors for chemicals. Within the context of CBiRC, we are addressing how the fatty acid biosynthetic pathway can be harnessed in genetically tractable microbes to produce a variety of precursors for the emerging biorenewable chemicals industry. In a broader context, we are employing forward genetic approaches to study the regulation of fatty acid synthesis, and we are particularly interested in the “non-obvious” genetic determinants, and variants thereof, that determine fatty acid production.

Teaching: 

Gen 511 Molecular Genetics

Biol 313L Genetics Laboratory