Fei Cai, PhD
Associate Specialist

UC Berkeley Department Plant and Microbial Biology
Kerfeld Lab West

PhD, Biochemistry, The University of Southern Mississippi, 2009
BSc, Biology, Nanjing University, China, 2002

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Building 64/Room 125
1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California 94720
Phone 510-486-6846

fcai@lbl.gov

My current research interest is structure-based design and engineering of bacterial microcompartments and using modified microcompartment building blocks to produce proteinaceous architectures.  I am also interested in developing synthetic biology tools in cyanobacteria, and I believe it will enable the use of cyanobacteria for production of many valuable compounds.

Nonscientific interests: traveling, badminton, cooking, and watching any animal behavior documentaries.


Publications
  • Cai F, Dou Z, Bernstein SL, Leverenz R, Williams EB, Heinhorst S, Shively J, Cannon GC, and Kerfeld CA. 2015 Advances in understanding carboxysome assembly in Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus implicate CsoS2 as a critical component. Life Special Issue Cyanobacteria: Ecology, Physiology and Genetics: 5: 1141-1171.
  • Cai F, Sutter M, Bernstein S, Kinney JN, and Kerfeld CA. 2015 Engineering Bacterial Microcompartment Shells: Chimeric Shell Proteins and Chimeric Carboxysome Shells. ACS Synthetic Biology 4(4): 444-453 DOI: 10.1021/sb500226j.
  • Cai F, Sutter M, Cameron JC, Stanley D, Klein MG, Kinney JN, and Kerfeld CA. 2013 The Structure of CcmP, a Tandem Microcompartment domain Protein from the β-Carboxysome Forms a Nanocompartment within a Microcompartment. J. Biol. Chem. 288 (22): 16055-16063.
  • Cai F, Axen SD, and Kerfeld CA. 2013 Evidence for the Widespread Distribution of CRISPR-Cas Systems in the Phylum Cyanobacteria. RNA Biology 10 (5): 1-7.
  • Kinney JN, Salmeen A, Cai F, and Kerfeld CA. 2012 Elucidating the Essential Role of the Conserved Carboxysomal Protein CcmN Reveals a Common Feature of Bacterial Microcompartment Assembly. J. Biol. Chem. 287 (21): 17729-17736.
  • Roberts EW, Cai F, Kerfeld CA, Cannon GC, and Heinhorst. 2012 Isolation and Characterization of the Prochlorococcus Carboxysome Reveal the Presence of the Novel Shell Protein CsoS1D. J. Bacteriol. 194 (4): 787-795.
  • Cai F, Sandh G, and Kerfeld CA. 2012 Bioinformatic Identification and Structural Chara- cterization of a New Carboxysome Shell Protein. In Functional Genomics and Evolution of Photosynthetic Systems ed. Burnap RL and Vermaas W, Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration 33: 345-356.
  • Cai F, Menon BB, Cannon GC, Curry KJ, Shively JM, and Heinhorst S. 2009 The Pentameric Vertex Proteins Are Necessary for the Icosahedral Carboxysome Shell to Function as a CO2 Leakage Barrier. PLoS One 4 (10): e7521.
  • Klein MG, Zwart P, Bagby SC, Cai F, Chisholm SW, Heinhorst S, Cannon GC, and Kerfeld CA. 2009 Identification and Structural Analysis of a Novel Carboxysome Shell Protein with Implications for Metabolite Transport. J. Mol. Biol. 392: 319-333.
  • Tanaka S, Kerfeld CA, Sawaya MR,  Cai F, Heinhorst S, Cannon GC, and Yeates TO. 2008.Atomic-Level Models of the Bacterial Carboxysome Shell. Science 319 (5866):1083-1086.
  • Cai F, Heinhorst S, Shively JM, and Cannon GC. 2008 Transcript Analysis of the Halothiobacillus neapolitanus cso Operon. Arch. Microbiol. 189 (2): 141-150.
  • Tsai Y, Sawaya MR, Cannon GC, Cai F, Williams EB, Heinhorst S, Kerfeld CA, and Yeates TO. 2007. Structural Analysis of CsoS1A and the Protein Shell of the Halothiobacillus neapolitanus Carboxysome. PLoS Biol. 5 (6): 1345-1354.
  • Heinhorst S, Williams EB, Cai F, Murin CD, Shively JM, and Cannon GC. 2006. Characterization of the Carboxysomal Carbonic Anhydrase CsoSCA from Halothiobacillus neapolitanus. J. Bacteriol. 188 (23): 8087-8094.