Synthetic Biology

We want to use "nano disc" technology to unravel how plants control the biosynthesis of specific bioactive natural products (e.g. cyanogenic glucosides) through assembly of the enzymes of an entire biosynthetic pathway into metabolons (multienzyme complexes).

 

The biosynthetic pathways for most classes of natural products including those studied by us involve cytochrome P450 enzymes P450s) and UDPG-glycosyltransferases (UGTs). These are encoded by large multigene families.

 

In nature, recruitment of new enzyme functions as a result of gene duplications, rearrangements and mutations within the P450 and UGT multigene families provide plants with a tool kit to optimize their arsenal of natural products to cope with environmental challenges.

The goal is to provide the molecular basis for development of plants into highly efficient "green factories". The unravelling of these processes provides a direct entrance to study the biology behind co-evolution ("arms-race") between plants and insects and to understand the basis for natural variation and population genetics at the molecular level.

 

For further information, visit the UNIK Center for Synthetic Biology homepage here