BIOSYNTHESIS OF FLAVONOID COMPOUNDS

                    Flavonoids and stilbenes are plant-specific natural products with
                    a wide range of biological activities, such as UV protection, as                     signals of bacterial nodulation, coloration and defense against                     herbivory and microbial pathogens. The uncovering of an increasing number of health benefits associated with these compounds has resulted in an explosion of research on their medicinal properties during the last few years. In particular, the stilbene compounds resveratrol has received considerable attention for its medicinal properties, and has been shown to increas the lifespan of yeasts as well as multicellular organisms. However, expression of plant secondary metabolic pathways, including those for flavonoids and stilbenes, are typically under tight temporal and spatial control, which limits the availability of many medicinally important plant natural products.

We have assembled plant flavonoid and stilbene biosynthetic pathways in E. coli for the synthesis of diverse flavonoid compounds. Inexpensive phenylpropionic acid precursor compounds (derived from agricultural residues) can be fed to the recombinant E. coli cultures for the efficient production of modified flavonoid and stilbene compounds. In addition to developing biosynthetic routes for the synthesis of flavonoid compounds, we are interested in learning more about the involved enzyme functions, and in the characterization of putative flavonoid biosynthetic genes identified in plant genomes.

Biosynthetic routes to flavonoids and stilbenes. Condensation of 3 malonyl-CoA's
to 1 phenylpropanoid-CoA unit is catalyzed by type III polyektide synthases STS or CHS.

 

 

  

 

Last updated: November 2005
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