Metabolic Engineering and Plant Natural Products Research
Metabolic engineering for plants is the manipulation of biochemical, genetic and regulatory processes within plant cells to increase the production of specific plant chemicals, particularly plant natural products. Noble Foundation scientists and researchers seek to understand the fundamental structures and chemistry of these compounds for agriculturally significant plants, such as grasses and legumes, as well as the mechanisms and pathways necessary to form, deliver and store such compounds. Research at the Noble Foundation targets the production of plant natural products to benefit human and animal health as well as the production of compounds to assist plants in defending themselves against fungal pathogens.
Representative research
- Study of condensed tannin biosynthesis and genetic introduction of condensed tannins in alfalfa (Dixon)
- Development of comparative functional genomics for plant trichomes (Dixon, Sumner, Zhao)
- Study of the biosynthesis of C-glycosyl isoflavones in kudzu (Dixon)
- Identification and evaluation of grape seed polyphenols and their relationship to Alzheimer's disease (Dixon)
- Discovery and elucidation of genes involved in triterpene saponin biosynthesis (Sumner, Dixon)
- Genetic modification of alfalfa to introduce tolerance to Phymatotrichum root rot (or cotton root rot) (Dixon, Sumner, Mysore)
- Study of the glycosylation of plant natural products and the enzymatic mechanism of uridine diphosphate glycosyltransferases (Wang)
- Examination of the structural and mechanistic basis of allene oxide synthase, a cytochrome P450 enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of jasmonates (Wang)
- Study of the structural biology of isoflavonoid phytoalexin biosynthesis (Wang)
Principal investigators
Rick Dixon, D. Phil., Plant Biology
Kirankumar Mysore, Ph.D., Plant Biology
Lloyd Sumner, Ph.D., Plant Biology
Xiaoqiang Wang, Ph.D., Plant Biology
Patrick Zhao, Ph.D., Plant Biology