Descripción del proyecto
Unos mejores cultivos para la producción a gran escala de fitosteroles
Los fitosteroles, unas preciadas biomoléculas derivadas de residuos agrícolas, se utilizan como pienso para el ganado y como materia prima en los sectores farmacéutico y cosmético. El desarrollo de programas de bioingeniería y cultivos de alta calidad para la producción a gran escala de fitosteroles constituye un gran desafío para los agricultores y los biólogos. El proyecto realizará una caracterización molecular funcional de una variante de tabaco que contiene una mutación semidominante aún desconocida responsable de una sobreproducción de fitosteroles, así como de mutantes de «Arabidopsis thaliana» que presentan la supresión de los fenotipos de baja producción de fitosteroles. A través de la genómica avanzada, el proyecto financiado con fondos europeos HiPhy identificará los reguladores maestros de la biosíntesis y acumulación de fitosteroles en las plantas.
Objetivo
Phytosterols (PS) are valuable biomolecules used as nutrients and as feedstock material for the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. The challenge biologists and breeders are faced with is to develop bioengineering programs and valuable crops dedicated to the large-scale production of PS, which are currently extracted from agricultural waste materials. The goal of the proposal is to identify master regulators of PS biosynthesis and accumulation in plants. In fact, PS have essential cellular functions in plant growth and development, acting as key membrane components and membrane reinforcers, as signals in development and as precursors of brassinosteroids, a class of growth regulators. As such, the concentration of PS is highly regulated in order to comply with cellular homeostasis. To reach the goal, we will carry out a functional molecular characterization of a tobacco variant carrying a yet unknown semi-dominant mutation responsible for PS overproduction and Arabidopsis thaliana mutants exhibiting a suppressor phenotype of a defect in the production of precursors of isoprenoid lipids, such as PS. The work plan is to apply advanced genomics for next-generation mapping, leading to the elucidation of mutations in genes of interest (GOI) that regulate PS accumulation. The validation of candidate GOI will be done by genome editing and the role of novel alleles in PS metabolism will be performed by various functional and metabolomic studies. Finally, the combined expression of selected GOI with steroidogenic enzymes will be assessed by implementing in folia expression assays in Nicotiana benthamiana.
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MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinador
75794 Paris
Francia