Metabolic diversity evolution

We are interested on the evolutionary and mechanistic aspects -at the genome level- that allowed for the appearance of bacterial metabolism, including its genes, enzymes and metabolites.
We mainly focus in the group of Actinobacteria (e.g. Streptomyces and Clavibacter), but also in other phyla identified after ecological studies (e.g. cyanobacteria), to experimentally and computationally explore evolutionary hypotheses.

Research lines:

• The evolution of enzyme substrate specificities through comparative enzymology for the study of homologous enzyme families in vitro.
• Pathway assembly directing the synthesis of novel and complex natural products after biochemical characterization.
• The potential biological roles of these specialized metabolites through microbial interactions.
• The evolutionary driving forces behind genome dynamics, metabolic exchange and diversification, leading to niche adaptation, by means of phylogenomics.

Recent projects:

• "Evolutionary genomics for the sustainable exploitation of microbes from Mexican niches: from biodiversity to application" Royal Society-Newton Advanced Fellowship (2018-2020).
• "Plant-bacteria co-evolution in the context of phytobiome: the case of the specialized metabolism of bacteria from the order Microccocales in agricultural and wild solanaceous”. Basic Science 2016, CONACYT (2018-2020).
• "Discovery of new antibiotics through evomining and fitness typing" Texas A&M University - CONACYT, (2017-2018).
• Technological transfers to national and international companies within the agrobiotechnology and pharmaceutical fields.

Most relevant publications:

• 1. Expanding Primary Metabolism Helps Generate the Metabolic Robustness To Facilitate Antibiotic Biosynthesis in Streptomyces. mBio, 9(1):e02283-17. 2018.
• 2. Evolution of substrate specificity in a retained enzyme driven by gene loss. eLife, 6:e22679. 2017.
• 3. Phylogenomic analysis of natural products biosynthetic gene clusters allows discovery of arseno-organic metabolites in model streptomycetes. Genome Biology and Evolution. 8(6):1906-16. 2016.
• 4. Evolution of substrate specificity in a recipient's enzyme following horizontal gene transfer. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 30(9): 2024-34. 2013.

Recent publications:

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