Description du projet
La voie de signalisation TORC1 et son application dans les biotechnologies à base de mousses
La voie de signalisation TORC1 (cible du complexe rapamycine 1) est bien conservée dans les cellules eucaryotes et joue un rôle dans la régulation de la croissance et du métabolisme cellulaires. Financé par le programme Actions Marie Skłodowska-Curie, le projet MossTOR a pour ambition de caractériser la voie TORC1 dans les cellules protonéma au début du développement de l’organisme modèle, à savoir la mousse Physcomitrella patens. L’objectif est de tester si la modulation de la voie TORC1 permet d’améliorer les applications biotechnologiques à base de mousses. Le développement de lignées transgéniques de Physcomitrella patens caractérisées par une signalisation TORC1 hyperactive permettra de tester la production de protéines du complément recombinantes humaines ou l’artémisinine, un médicament utilisé dans le traitement de la malaria.
Objectif
The Target of Rapamycin Complex 1 (TORC1) signaling pathway, involved in the coordination of cell growth and metabolism, is highly conserved among eukaryotes, including seed plants and algae. Studies have shown that its activity could be tuned to enhance plant growth, yield and resistance to stress, or accumulation of triacylglycerol in algae, thus indicating that its power could be harnessed to improve diverse plant biotechnological applications. In this project, I aim to characterize the TORC1 pathway for the first time in the moss Physcomitrella (Physcomitrium patens), a model organism of non-seed plants, using protonema cells as a study system. This is linked to another important goal, to test whether the activity of TORC1 can be modulated in order to improve moss-based biotechnological applications. Besides the identification of a functional TORC1 in Physcomitrella, I will develop transgenic lines with hyperactive TORC1 signaling, phenotypically and metabolically analyzing them, and in collaboration with Mosspiration Biotech, test if these lines could produce more human recombinant complement proteins or the drug artemisinin, used to treat patients with complement disorders or malaria, respectively. Enhancing this yield will result in a stable, sustainable and eco-friendly production platform. It would also lead to a reduced price, for instance of artemisinin-based treatments, thus allowing poor communities most affected by malaria to contain the disease. Should this project be successful, it will open the door to improve the yield of diverse well-established products from Physcomitrella, valuable metabolites, active pharmaceutical ingredients and biopharmaceutical proteins.
Champ scientifique
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Régime de financement
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinateur
79098 Freiburg
Allemagne