Mining the chemodiversity of the genus Myrica to reveal bioactive molecules for their medicinal uses

本项目的主要目的是：1.对杨梅属植物的生物活性成分有新的认识。Kew的大量植物标本(包括来自不同地理位置的85个杨梅植物标本)将被取样并进行化学分析，以通过绘制化学成分在空间背景中的出现情况来评估地理或环境或植物部分是否是药用植物化学的决定因素。我们将比较杨梅属间和种内的化学特性，以确定最合适的杨梅来源(基于化学多样性)，以选择进行详细的生物活性研究。2.确定杨梅生物活性分子的分子机制(S)，解释其现有和潜在的药用价值。将利用非动物药物遗传学模型盘基网柄菌的成熟专业知识，利用创新的分子遗传技术，提供有关杨梅主要提取物成分的分子机制和靶标的独特信息。识别的分子靶标将在直接化学-靶标相互作用的电子模拟中得到验证，并通过人类蛋白质的异源表达拯救突变。

The main aims of this project are to: 1. Build new understanding of the bioactive components of Myrica species. The extensive plant Collections at Kew (include >85 Myrica Herbarium specimens from different geographic locations) will be sampled and analysed chemically to assess whether geography or environment, or plant part, are determinants of medicinal plant chemistry by mapping the occurrence of chemical constituents in a spatial context. Chemical traits across the genus and intraspecifically (M. salicifolia) will be compared to identify the most suitable Myrica sources (based on chemodiversity) to select for detailed bioactivity studies. 2. Identify molecular mechanism(s) of Myrica bioactive molecules from to explain their current and potential medicinal uses. The established expertise in the non-animal pharmacogenetic model Dictyostelium discoideum, will be employed to provide unique information regarding the molecular mechanisms and targets for the major Myrica extracts constituents using innovative molecular genetic techniques. Identified molecular targets will be validated using in silico modelling of direct chemical-target interactions, and through rescue of mutants by heterologous expression of human proteins.