Study of Amaryllidaceae alkaloid pathway genes using comparative Omics analysis

Plant produce large number of the bioactive compounds, among them Amaryllidaceae alkaloids has such potential. Those Amaryllidaceae alkaloids are extracted from Amaryllidaceae plant family. Galantamine is one of the drug which is derived from the Amaryllidaceae alkaloid pathway; and is the only commercialized drug for the treatment of early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Although many Amaryllidaeae alkaloid have potential pharmacological properties, its further research and application is restricted due to its low level of accumulation in plants. Emerging technology in genetic engineering have potential to produce plant derived compounds from heterologous microbial host. The knowledge on biosynthetic pathway of targeted compound is absolute necessity for reconstruction of biosynthetic route in microorganisms. Ongoing biological process can be captured using RNA sequencing technology, co-expression network analysis and computational studies. Hence, our project focus on the identification of biosynthetic pathway genes involved in Amaryllidaceae alkaloid metabolism by comparative transcriptomic analysis.

Faculty Supervisor:

Isabel Desgagné-Penix

Student:

Partner:

Nanyang Technological University

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

Program: