U.S.-Mexico Cooperative Research: Genetic Engineering of the Isoprenoid Biosynthetic Pathway in Plants

该美洲项目奖将支持肯塔基大学的Joseph Chappell教授与IPN研究中心（CINVESTAV）的Edmundo Lozoya教授合作进行研究。以及尤卡坦科学研究中心的Victor M. Loyola教授。本研究拟对类异戊二烯生物合成途径及其调控进行研究。类异戊二烯在自然界中无处不在，对生命至关重要，并介导生物体与其环境之间的许多相互作用。此外，植物是具有重要药用意义的类异戊二烯的丰富来源。最近的研究结果表明，生物合成机制的区隔在调节实际制造的类异戊二烯类型方面起着重要作用。通过新颖的实验，研究人员打算测试离散代谢单位专门用于特定代谢产物的假设。这些研究结果将有助于阐明植物类异戊二烯代谢的调节机制，并将对未来利用基因工程技术操纵这一途径具有重要意义。

This Americas Program award will support Prof. Joseph Chappell of the University of Kentucky in a research collaboration with Prof. Edmundo Lozoya of the Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN (CINVESTAV), Irapuato, and Prof. Victor M. Loyola of the Scientific Research Center in Yucatan. The researchers intend to study the isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway and its regulation. Isoprenoids are ubiquitous in nature, essential for life, and mediate a number of interactions between organisms and their environment. In addition, plants are a rich source for pharmaceutically important isoprenoids. Recent results suggest that compartmentation of the biosynthetic machinery plays an important role in regulating what type of isoprenoids are actually made. Through novel experiments the researchers intend to test the hypothesis that discrete metabolic units are dedicated to specific metabolic products. Results from these studies will help to elucidate the mechanisms regulating isoprenoid metabolism in plants, and will have important ramifications for future manipulations of this pathway using genetic engineering technology.