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OUR RESEARCH VISION
Plants are nature’s master chemists. They produce a staggering diversity of specialized ('secondary') metabolites to survive and thrive in a constantly changing environment for life spans of up hundreds of years. Terpenoids are the largest and most diverse class of specialized metabolites with essential functions in plant growth, chemical defense and ecological adaptation. Many terpenoids are also of economic value as pharmaceuticals, flavors, fragrances, biofuels, and other bioproducts of everyday modern life. To decode the biosynthesis, diversity and biological functions of terpenoid metabolic networks in food, bioenergy and medicinal plants, we integrate genomics-enabled pathway discovery, metabolomics, protein biochemistry, structural biology, bioactivity, and genetic approaches. We then utilize this knowledge for agricultural and bioproduct applications by generating resources for targeted crop breeding and advanced terpenoid production through combinatorial protein and pathway engineering.
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