Molecular characterization of isoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis and its reconstitution in plant and microbial cells

从分子水平研究异喹啉类生物碱的生物合成途径及其调控。为此目的，分离和表征生物合成酶和转录因子的cDNA。从C.利用微生物酶基因构建新型生物碱发酵平台，成功实现了在微生物细胞中利用葡萄糖生产牛心果碱。此外，利用秀丽隐杆线虫生物活性测定系统评价异喹啉类生物碱的降血脂活性，成功地应用于异喹啉类生物碱新候选化合物的筛选。

Isoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis was investigated at molecular level to understand their biosynthetic pathways and its regulation. For this purpose, cDNAs of biosynthetic enzymes and transcription factors were isolated and characterized. Genes of biosynthetic enzymes isolated from C. japonicacells were successfully used to reconstitute novel alkaloid fermentation platform with some microbial enzyme genes to produce reticuline from glucose in microbial cells. In addition, bioassay system with Caenorhabditis elegans, to evaluate lipid-accumulation-reducing activity of isoquinoline alkaloids was successfully applied for the screening of new candidate among isoquinoline alkaloids.