Adapt Yeast for Phytochemical Bioproduction
Phytochemicals are of great pharmaceutical and agricultural significance, yet normally with limiting supplies. Biotechnological
production of high-value phytochemicals in the fast growing, fermentable microbes has been considered as an important potential alternative to industrial supply of these expensive molecules. Yeast as one of the most well-studied and utilized eukaryotic
microbes, is a favorable host for such bio-production, but with several challenges remain unresolved to date. These challenges are mainly related to the distinct micro-environment in yeast from plant. We are interested in developing a generalized yeast platform
for the efficient reconstitution of complex plant pathways with improved bioproduction of target molecules.
production of high-value phytochemicals in the fast growing, fermentable microbes has been considered as an important potential alternative to industrial supply of these expensive molecules. Yeast as one of the most well-studied and utilized eukaryotic
microbes, is a favorable host for such bio-production, but with several challenges remain unresolved to date. These challenges are mainly related to the distinct micro-environment in yeast from plant. We are interested in developing a generalized yeast platform
for the efficient reconstitution of complex plant pathways with improved bioproduction of target molecules.
Yeast Biosynthesis to Understand Plant Secondary Metabolism
Biosynthesis of most phytochemicals are under investigated, i.e., enzymes catalyzing certain biosynthetic steps are unidentified, and how the pathways are regulated and interact with other plant metabolic pathways are mostly unclear. Using yeast as the model
organism, we aim to decipher the biosynthetic pathways of target phytochemicals, characterize enzymatic interactions along the
biosynthesis, and map the interactive matrix with other metabolic pathways, This will aid the investigation and understanding of
relative plant secondary metabolism, and shed light on developing novel strategies to regulate corresponding biosynthetic
pathways.
organism, we aim to decipher the biosynthetic pathways of target phytochemicals, characterize enzymatic interactions along the
biosynthesis, and map the interactive matrix with other metabolic pathways, This will aid the investigation and understanding of
relative plant secondary metabolism, and shed light on developing novel strategies to regulate corresponding biosynthetic
pathways.
Reprogramming Plant Perception for Novel Plant Natural Products Discovery
Plant natural products (NPs) are important sources for the discovery and development of small molecule medicines. Analysis of the genome data implies that nature's synthetic potential has been largely underestimated, and the majority of NPs have been unexplored. Over the past twenty years, many approaches have been developed to more efficiently discover novel NPs from microbial organisms. However, none of these strategies are applicable to predicting or activating biosynthetic pathways that are cryptic or of very low efficiency under normal conditions in plants. Plant NPs are believed to play an indispensable role in plants' innate immunity and defense framework. In response to the recognition of pathogens or damage by the pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), the plant activates the biosynthesis of NPs that function as defensive molecules such as antimicrobials. PRRs are surface-localized, ligand-binding, receptor-like kinases or proteins that recognize and respond to molecular signals in the environment. Genome analysis indicates that plants encode a huge number of PRRs, with the function of more than 95% being unknown even in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Therefore, we propose to develop a strategy to engineer and redirect plant immune signaling to discover novel plant NPs.