Project description
Tailoring terpenes for customised applications
Terpene natural products are a large family of organic molecules found in plants, responsible for their aromas, flavours and even colours. Terpenes find applications in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and agriculture, but small changes in their structure can strongly affect how they work. The ERC-funded TAILOMET project focuses on methylation of terpenes as a mechanism of improving their activity and stability. The aim of the project is to identify and redesign natural enzymes that add these methyl groups onto terpenes. By creating programmable biocatalytic tools to produce customised terpenes, the project will enable faster discovery of improved drugs and materials. At the same time, project results are expected to reveal how terpenes function in biological communication and ecology.
Objective
TAILOMET will explore and exploit the hidden magic methyl effect in nature to develop genetically programmable biocatalytic systems for the production of tailor-made terpenoids.
Given the immense pharmaceutical and industrial importance of terpene natural products, methodologies for strategic structure modifications to fine-tune physicochemical properties are of vast interest. Introduction of a single methyl group can have dramatic impact on a drug lead’s potency, selectivity, or pharmacokinetics, and can alter olfactory reception of aroma compounds. The influence of methylations on the bioactivity of terpenes has, however, never been systematically investigated due to the limited availability of suitable methodologies to introduce such structural modifications into terpene scaffolds. Our recent discovery on a novel general pathway to homoterpenes, together with bioinformatic analyses indicates widespread interkingdom occurrence of terpene C-methylations in nature. The findings suggest a readily available and vast treasure trove for the discovery of novel enzymology to develop biocatalytic systems for selective methyl installation into terpene backbones. By exploration, exploitation, and re-design of these naturally available enzymes, TAILOMET will develop a comprehensive toolbox to close current knowledge gaps and unlock rapid access to terpenoids with fine-tuned or even novel properties. Besides synthetic advancements, comprehensive insights into the biological function of terpene methylations in nature might shed novel lights on intra- and interspecies communication with potentially valuable implications for chemical ecology and natural product discovery.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmacokinetics
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins enzymes
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG
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78464 Konstanz
Germany
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