Unraveling molecular basis of phytochemical accumulation toward improved human health

揭示植物化学物质积累的分子基础以改善人类健康

• 批准号: 10514935
• 负责人: Bao-Hua Song
• 金额: $ 44.64万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA CHARLOTTE
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-08-01 至 2025-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10514935
• 关键词: Address; Alternative Medicine; Antidiabetic Drugs; Award; Biochemistry; CRISPR/Cas technology; Candidate Disease Gene; Chronic Disease; Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats; Communities; Consumption; DNA Shuffling; Development; Diet; Economically Deprived Population; Environment; Exhibits; Fabaceae; Future; Gene Pool; Generations; Genes; Genetic; Genetic Polymorphism; Genomic approach; Genomics; Goals; Health; Human; Immune system; Immunity; Institution; Interdisciplinary Study; Knowledge; Lead; Low income; Malignant Neoplasms; Minority Women; Molecular; North Carolina; Outcome; Pathway interactions; Phase; Phytochemical; Plants; Population; Prevention strategy; Process; Production; Property; Public Health; Quantitative Genetics; Reporting; Research; Research Activity; Research Personnel; Research Project Grants; Resources; Soyasaponin; Soybeans; Students; System; Testing; Underrepresented Minority; Universities; Variant; Viral; Viral Cancer; Work; anti-cancer; anticancer activity; cancer therapy; diabetic; disadvantaged population; experience; gene function; genome editing; genomic data; graduate student; hands on research; improved; interdisciplinary approach; metabolic engineering; nutrition; pandemic disease; progenitor; programs; success; trait; undergraduate research experience; undergraduate student

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The overarching goal of this AREA project is to uncover the genetic basis regulating soyasaponin accumulation for the development of value-increased crops to boost the human immune system and for alternative medicine. This project is urgent and significant to meet current and future unpredicted pandemics. Soyasaponins are a group of naturally occurring phytochemicals in legume species and has been reported to boost the human immune system. They also exhibit anti-viral, anti-cancer, and anti-diabetic activities. Previous research has been predominantly limited to examinations of soyasaponin's medicinal properties, but its biosynthetic pathway is not complete and little is known about its molecular determination in regulating soyasaponin accumulation. The lack of fundamental knowledge about these important bioactive compounds limits the success of plant metabolic engineering to develop soyasaponin-rich crops. The value-improved staple crops, such as soybean, can be consumed via a daily diet to boost immunity and can be made globally accessible to economically disadvantaged populations. This project is the first to bridge this critical gap and examine the molecular mechanisms regulating soyasaponin variation in natural plants applying interdisciplinary approaches, such as genomics, biochemistry, and CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing. The research goal will be accomplished by completion of the following two specific aims: 1) to identify candidate genes regulating soyasaponin production in wild soybeans, the wild progenitor of cultivated soybean with a large gene pool; and 2) to validate gene function of identified candidate genes in contributing to soyasaponin production using state-of-the-art CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system. Our scientific contribution here is significant as it will address a crucial fundamental question of molecular basis regulating vital phytochemical production in natural plants. Specifically, our study will improve understanding of the molecular components and their functional relationships in soyasaponin production. Project results are expected to provide a significant step toward efficient plant metabolic engineering and/or molecular breeding to develop value-increased soybean cultivars to boost the human immune system through diet and ultimately lead to alternative strategies for the prevention and treatment of cancer and other chronic diseases. The mapping population and large genomic data will provide the plant community resource for deploying similar strategies to the study of other human health-related traits. This comprehensive research project will engage undergraduate and graduate students in a comprehensive interdisciplinary research environment. This AREA award will enhance the research environment at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, a rapidly growing urban university with a large number of first-generation and low-income students. The PI has a strong track record of involving under-represented minorities and women in her research program. The final outcome of this interdisciplinary research project will create a broader impact on the improvement of public health, both locally and globally.

项目摘要/摘要 该区域项目的总体目标是揭示调节大豆积累的遗传基础 为了开发增值农作物以增强人类免疫系统和替代医学。 该项目迫切且重要，可以满足当前和未来的未预测的大流行。 大豆蛋白是豆类物种中的一群天然存在的植物化学物质，已经是 据报道可以增强人类免疫系统。它们还表现出抗病毒，抗癌和抗糖尿病活动。 先前的研究主要仅限于对大豆药物特性的检查，但 它的生物合成途径尚不完整，对调节的分子测定知之甚少 大豆积聚。缺乏有关这些重要生物活性化合物的基本知识 限制了植物代谢工程的成功，以发展富含大豆蛋白的农作物。增值主食 诸如大豆等农作物可以通过日常饮食消费以提高免疫力，并且可以在全球范围内获取免疫力 到经济不利的人群。该项目是第一个弥合这一关键差距并检查的项目 调节跨学科方法的天然植物中大豆变异的分子机制， 例如基因组学，生物化学和CRISPR-CAS9基因编辑。 研究目标将通过完成以下两个具体目的完成：1）确定 调节野生大豆的大豆生产的候选基因，野生大豆是栽培大豆的野生祖细胞 带有大基因库； 2）验证已鉴定的候选基因的基因功能在有助于 使用最先进的CRISPR-CAS9基因编辑系统生产大豆蛋白。 我们在这里的科学贡献很重要，因为它将解决分子的关键基本问题 基础调节天然植物中重要的植物化学生产。具体而言，我们的研究将有所改善 了解分子成分及其在大豆产生中的功能关系。项目 预计结果将为有效的植物代谢工程和/或分子提供重要的一步 繁殖以发展价值增大的大豆品种，以通过饮食和 最终导致预防和治疗癌症和其他慢性疾病的替代策略。 映射人群和大型基因组数据将为部署类似的植物社区资源提供 研究其他与人类健康相关特征的策略。这个全面的研究项目将参与 在全面的跨学科研究环境中的本科生和研究生。这个区域 奖项将改善北卡罗来纳大学夏洛特大学的研究环境，这是一个快速增长的 城市大学有大量第一代和低收入学生。 PI有很强的轨道 她的研究计划中，涉及代表性不足的少数民族和妇女的记录。最终结果 这个跨学科研究项目将对公共卫生的改善产生更广泛的影响 本地和全球。