Transcriptome and metabolome profiling of Sagapenum to discover putative genes involved in oleo-gum-resin synthesis

    Project: NWO project

    Project Details

    Description

    Throughout history, staggering diversity of plant materials have been utilized widely by mankind as food, medicine, dyes, fragrance, and flavors/additives. In this project we focus on Ferula species, which possess strong aromatic smell that is due to the presence of essential oil. The genera of F. gummosa and F. persica are generally capable to generate a mixture known as “oleo-gum–resin”, which is commonly extracted from the exudates of the rhizome or taproot of the plants. Ferula is assumed to be a rich source of different classes of terpenes as well as other invaluable bioactive compounds. We will apply transcriptomics and metabolomics analysis to F. persica in order to (i) explore potential differences between transcriptome data of both MeJA-treated and untreated samples of different tissues of the plant; (ii) find potential pathways involving in oleo-gum–resin biosynthesis in the plant, with the emphasis on the genes responsible for the biosynthesis of terpenes in this genus, as well as other potential biosynthetic pathways; and (iii) identify potential differential miRNAs between treated and untreated samples and explore which miRNAs contribute to the biosynthesis of diverse terpenes.

    This research will integrate and connect with an ongoing NWO-STW project Novel Enzymes for Fragrance and Flavour (which started August 1st 2017 and will run until July 31, 2021). In this project, two PhD students are working on experimental and computational methdology to improve the characterization of terpene synthases, i.e. potential candidate genes for the biosynthesis of terpenes. This is done by developing novel approaches for screening terpene synthase activity experimentally, as well as using machine learning in order to predict terpene synthase activity based on protein sequence information.
    StatusFinished
    Effective start/end date5/03/1925/11/22

    Fingerprint

    Explore the research topics touched on by this project. These labels are generated based on the underlying awards/grants. Together they form a unique fingerprint.