PhD defence by Isabelle May Angstman

Pathway Elucidation and Metabolic Analysis of Plant Alkaloids

Assessment Committee

Associate Professor Elizabeth Heather Jakobsen Neilson, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen (Chairperson)
Professor Thomas Ostenfeld Larsen, DTU Biotechnology and Biomedicine
Senior Researcher and Project Leader Lorenzo Caputi, Max-Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

Supervisor(s)

Associate Professor Fernando Geu-Flores
Associate Professor Mohammed Saddik Motawie
Postdoc Katharina Vollheyde

Department

Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences

Place

Frederiksberg Campus, Room: Festauditoriet in aud A1-01.01,Bülowsvej 17, 1870 Frederiksberg C

Email address to gain access to the thesis: ima@plen.ku.dk 
You will either receive a copy of the thesis or be informed where you can read a physical copy.

Short description of the thesis

Plants synthesize thousands of bioactive alkaloids, including some of the world's most important medicines, but we often don't know how plants make them. This PhD investigates the biosynthesis of pilocarpine, nicotine, and quinolizidine alkaloids using LC–MS/MS-based metabolomics, stable isotope labeling, and synthetic biology. For pilocarpine, an imidazole alkaloid produced by Pilocarpus microphyllus, the work identifies key features of its biosynthesis. In parallel, a complete biosynthetic route to (S)-nicotine is reconstructed in planta, and the regulatory role of the IUCUNDUS gene in quinolizidine alkaloid accumulation in narrow-leafed lupin is confirmed. These findings advance understanding of plant alkaloid biosynthesis and support future metabolic engineering efforts.