Dr. Valerie de Crecy-Lagard, professor, Department of Microbiology and Cell Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, will present the seminar “Discovery of 7-deazapurine synthesis pathways: where RNA and DNA modifications intersect with secondary metabolites.”

By various estimates, at least 30-50% of the genes of any given organism are of unknown function, incorrectly annotated, or have only a generic annotation. Using comparative genomic approaches, we have linked gene and function for around 50 families related mainly to the fields of coenzyme metabolism, tRNA modification, protein modification and metabolite repair.