Control of Natural Product Production in Aromatic Herbs

芳香草本植物天然产物生产的控制

• 批准号: 0210170
• 负责人: David Gang
• 金额: $ 36万
• 依托单位: University of Arizona
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-08-01 至 2005-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0210170&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Control; Natural; Product; Production; Aromatic

Culinary and other aromatic herbs make a significant contribution to improving the appeal of foodstuff and play increasingly important roles in our society as components of the herbal remedies and supplements industry. However, the biosynthesis of almost all bioactive secondary compounds or natural products is still poorly understood. The plant family Lamiaceae (e.g., sweet basil and mint) includes many species that are rich in such natural products. Natural product production by the plant is believed to be associated with defense against herbivores and pathogens, and Lamiaceae species have evolved elaborate structures on the surface of their leaves, known as peltate glands, where these chemicals are synthesized and stored. Basil is a particularly noteworthy herb because it synthesizes relatively high amounts of both terpenoids and phenylpropanoids, two large classes of compounds that include many plant defense and medicinally important natural products, including paclitaxel (Taxol) and podophyllotoxin (derivatized to form Etoposide and Teniposide) that are used to treat cancer. Aside from some focused efforts to delineate the pathways to specific compounds, such as paclitaxel and podophyllotoxin, very little is known about the biochemical reactions that produce the great diversity of compounds that result from these two biosynthetic pathways. Even less is known about the genes and enzymes that control or regulate these pathways. This research project aims to identify how secondary compounds are produced in basil peltate glands and to begin to identify and define the mechanisms that control their production. Specifically, this research will: 1) use metabolic profiling to characterize levels of known metabolites and potential intermediates in the phenylpropanoid pathway in peltate glands of select basil lines; and 2) use a functional genomics approach to determine what roles specific enzymes and other regulatory factors play in controlling the flux into and through the phenylpropanoid pathway in basil peltate glands.The research results and developed tools will form a foundation that should facilitate research of other plant secondary metabolic pathways. In addition to the intrinsic scientific value of understanding how plants produce natural products, such knowledge is essential for rational design of breeding strategies to produce plants with targeted natural product profiles. This knowledge will also help in the application of genetic engineering to improve and develop new aromatic plants, which could then serve as feed stocks for the pharmaceutical and other industries.

烹饪和其他芳香草药为提高食品的吸引力做出了重大贡献，并作为草药和补充剂行业的组成部分在我们的社会中发挥着越来越重要的作用。然而，几乎所有生物活性次生化合物或天然产物的生物合成仍然知之甚少。唇形科（Lamiaceae）植物（例如，甜罗勒和薄荷）包括富含这种天然产物的许多物种。植物产生的天然产物被认为与防御食草动物和病原体有关，并且唇形科物种在其叶子表面进化出了复杂的结构，称为盾形腺，这些化学物质在那里合成和储存。罗勒是一种特别值得注意的草药，因为它合成了相对大量的萜类化合物和苯丙素类化合物，这两大类化合物包括许多植物防御和医学上重要的天然产物，包括用于治疗癌症的紫杉醇（紫杉醇）和鬼臼毒素（衍生形成依托泊苷和替尼泊苷）。除了一些集中的努力描绘特定化合物的途径，如紫杉醇和鬼臼毒素，很少有人知道的生化反应，产生的化合物，从这两个生物合成途径的巨大差异。对控制或调节这些途径的基因和酶的了解更少。本研究项目旨在确定如何在罗勒盾形腺中产生次级化合物，并开始确定和定义控制其生产的机制。具体而言，本研究将：1）使用代谢谱来表征选择的罗勒系的盾形腺中苯丙烷途径中已知代谢物和潜在中间体的水平;和2）使用功能基因组学方法来确定特定的酶和其他调节因子在控制罗勒盾形腺中苯丙烷类物质途径的流入和通过中发挥什么作用。研究结果和开发的工具将为其他植物次生代谢途径的研究奠定了基础。 除了了解植物如何产生天然产物的内在科学价值外，这些知识对于合理设计育种策略以生产具有目标天然产物谱的植物至关重要。 这些知识还将有助于应用基因工程来改进和开发新的芳香植物，然后这些植物可以作为制药和其他工业的原料。