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

这一美洲方案奖将支持肯塔基大学的约瑟夫·查佩尔教授与伊拉克Avanzados del IPN(CINVESTAV)中心的Edmundo Lozoya教授进行研究合作。以及尤卡坦科学研究中心的维克托·M·洛约拉教授。研究人员打算研究类异戊二烯的生物合成途径及其调控。异戊二烯类化合物在自然界中普遍存在，是生命所必需的，并调节着生物体与其环境之间的许多相互作用。此外，植物是药用上重要的异戊二烯的丰富来源。最近的结果表明，生物合成机械的隔间在调节实际制造什么类型的异戊二烯方面起着重要作用。通过新的实验，研究人员打算检验离散代谢单位专用于特定代谢产物的假设。这些研究的结果将有助于阐明植物中类异戊二烯代谢的调控机制，并将对未来利用基因工程技术操纵这一途径具有重要的指导意义。

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.