Biochemical Genomics: Deciphering the Chemical Factories of Oilseeds

Pi：John Browse(华盛顿州立大学)Copis：Edga Cahoon和Etsuko Moriyama(内布拉斯加大学-林肯大学)，Chaofu Lu(蒙大拿州立大学)，Jorg Schwender和John Shanklin(纽约州立大学，石溪大学和布鲁克海文国家实验室)，Jay Thelen(密苏里-哥伦比亚大学)。这一基础研究项目的发现将使我们了解合成新型种子油的途径是如何进化的基本原理。来自该项目的知识可能会使新一代特种作物的设计成为未来的生物技术工厂。该项目将为青年科学家、研究生和本科生提供众多跨学科的教育机会。将为中学生制作一部名为《植物油被揭开》的视频，并将为他们制作互动科学实验，详细介绍植物油在他们的生活和社会中扮演的主要角色。本科生，包括那些来自少数群体的学生，将参与多学科的研究项目，将植物基因组学与生物化学结合在一起，以解决复杂但令人兴奋的挑战。有关资料和结果将透过计划网站http://bioinfolab.unl.edu/oilseeds.向公众公布。在这个项目中产生的所有序列将可以通过诸如GenBank、序列读取档案库(SRA)和基因表达总览(GEO)等长期存储库来访问。蛋白质组数据将通过公共蛋白质组学数据库、植物蛋白磷酸化数据库、PROID和iPLANT进行访问。这个项目的目标是对控制修饰脂肪酸积累的代谢网络做出根本性的发现，修饰脂肪酸存在于具有数百种不同化学结构的广泛植物物种中。新酶功能的进化，以及其他生化和细胞生物学特性的共同进化，为种子油提供了数百种潜在的有用化学物质，包括本项目将研究的羟基化、共轭和环丙烷脂肪酸。该联盟将整合基因组学、蛋白质组学和数学建模，通过三种方法对植物体内修饰脂肪酸的积累提供变革性的了解：a)比较基因组学和蛋白质组学，以确定所需的途径和调节成分；b)酶分析和数学建模，以确定修饰脂肪酸的合成和储存途径；以及c)使用产生的知识来重建茶树的途径，茶树是一种用于工业石油生产的作物。

PI: John Browse (Washington State University)CoPIs: Edgar Cahoon and Etsuko Moriyama (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), Chaofu Lu (Montana State University), Jorg Schwender and John Shanklin (SUNY, Stony Brook University and Brookhaven National Laboratory), and Jay Thelen (University of Missouri-Columbia).The discoveries that result from this basic research project will yield an understanding of the underlying principles of how pathways evolved for the synthesis of novel seed oils. The knowledge from this project may enable the design of a new generation of specialty crops that will become the green factories of the future through biotechnology. This project will support numerous, interdisciplinary educational opportunities for young scientists, graduate and undergraduate students. A video "Plant Oils Uncovered" along with interactive science experiments will be produced for secondary school students detailing the major role plant oils play in their life and in society. Undergraduate students, including those from minority groups, will participate in multi-disciplinary research projects that bring plant genomics together with biochemistry to solve complex but exciting challenges. Information and results will be available to the public through the project website at http://bioinfolab.unl.edu/oilseeds. All sequences generated in this project will be accessible through long-term repositories such as GenBank, the Sequence Read Archive (SRA), and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Proteomic data will be accessible through public proteomics databases, the Plant Protein Phosphorylation Database, PRIDE, and through iPlant. The goal of this project is to make fundamental discoveries about metabolic networks that govern the accumulation of modified fatty acids, which occur in a wide range of plant species with hundreds of diverse chemical structures. Evolution of new enzyme functions, together with the co-evolution of additional biochemical and cell biological traits, has provided hundreds of potentially useful chemicals in seed oils, including the hydroxylated, conjugated and cyclopropane fatty acids to be studied in this project. This consortium will integrate genomics, proteomics and mathematical modeling to provide a transformative understanding about the accumulation of modified fatty acids in plants using three approaches: a) comparative genomics and proteomics to identify pathway and regulatory components required; b) enzyme assays and mathematical modeling to define the pathways for synthesis and storage of modified fatty acids; and, c) using the knowledge generated to reconstruct the pathways in Camelina, a crop targeted for industrial oil production.