About
Biographies
Research Interests and Accomplishments
Yo Suzuki is an Assistant Professor in the Synthetic Biology and Bioenergy Department at the JCVI. He uses the 'Green Monster' method for genome engineering. In this method, GFP-marked genomic alterations such as deletions and insertions are assembled into a single genome via repeated rounds of mating, meiosis, and flow-cytometric enrichment of yeast cells harboring the alterations. He is interested in (1) generating yeast multi-mutants to reveal previously unidentified genetic interactions, (2) introducing exogenous biosynthetic pathways into yeast to make valuable compounds, and (3) engineering bacterial genomes residing in yeast to help characterize the minimal cellular life.
Yo earned his Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Colorado for his work on a C. elegans TGF-b gene with Bill Wood. While in Colorado, he became interested in the problem of multi-gene genetic interaction. As a postdoctoral fellow with Min Han, he identified genes that act in parallel with a C. elegans homolog of the tumor suppressor gene PTEN. He switched to yeast and developed the Green Monster method for multi-locus engineering in Fritz Roth's lab at Harvard Medical School. He joined the JCVI in 2010.
Select Publications
Van Voorhis WC, Adams JH, et al.
Open Source Drug Discovery With the Malaria Box Compound Collection for Neglected Diseases and Beyond.
PLoS Pathogens. 2016 Jul 01; 12: e1005763.[more]
Hutchison CA, Chuang RY, et al.
Design and Synthesis of a Minimal Bacterial Genome.
Science (New York, N.Y.). 2016 Mar 25; 351: aad6253.[more]
Suzuki Y, Assad-Garcia N, et al.
Bacterial Genome Reduction Using the Progressive Clustering of Deletions via Yeast Sexual Cycling.
Genome Research. 2015 Mar 01; 25: 435-44.[more]
Karas BJ, Suzuki Y, et al.
Strategies for Cloning and Manipulating Natural and Synthetic Chromosomes.
Chromosome Research : an International Journal on the Molecular, Supramolecular and Evolutionary Aspects of chromosome Biology. 2015 Feb 01; 23: 57-68.[more]
Labunskyy VM, Suzuki Y, et al.
The Insertion Green Monster (iGM) Method for Expression of Multiple Exogenous Genes in Yeast.
G3 (Bethesda, Md.). 2014 Jul 01; 4: 1183-91.[more]
Karas BJ, Jablanovic J, et al.
Transferring Whole Genomes from Bacteria to Yeast Spheroplasts Using Entire Bacterial Cells to Reduce DNA Shearing.
Nature Protocols. 2014 Apr 01; 9: 743-50.[more]
Karas BJ, Wise KS, et al.
Rescue of Mutant Fitness Defects Using in Vitro Reconstituted Designer Transposons in Mycoplasma Mycoides.
Frontiers in Microbiology. 2014 Apr 01; 5: 369.[more]
Karas BJ, Jablanovic J, et al.
Direct Transfer of Whole Genomes from Bacteria to Yeast.
Nature Methods. 2013 May 01; 10: 410-2.[more]
Noskov VN, Karas BJ, et al.
Assembly of Large, High G+C Bacterial DNA Fragments in Yeast.
ACS Synthetic Biology. 2012 Jul 20; 1: 267-73.[more]
Suzuki Y, Stam J, et al.
The Green Monster Process for the Generation of Yeast Strains Carrying Multiple Gene Deletions.
Journal of Visualized Experiments : JoVE. 2012 Mar 01;: e4072.[more]
Cokol M, Chua HN, et al.
Systematic Exploration of Synergistic Drug Pairs.
Molecular systems biology. 2011 Apr 01; 7: 544.[more]
Suk K, Choi J, et al.
Reconstitution of Human RNA Interference In Budding Yeast.
Nucleic Acids Research. 2011 Apr 01; 39: e43.[more]
Suzuki, Y., St Onge, R. P., et al.
Knocking Out Multigene Redundancies Via Cycles of Sexual Assortment and Fluorescence Selection
Nat Methods. 2011 Feb 01; 8(2): 159-64.[more]