Alkaloids and Chemical Ecology – Institut for Plante- og Miljøvidenskab

Planter er de grønneste kemikere i verden. De bruger solenergi til at producere en lang række strukturelt komplekse naturstoffer med mange forskellige medicinske og industrielle anvendelsesmuligheder. Trods årtiers forskning i plantebiokemi ved vi stadig ikke præcis, hvordan planterne producerer og mobiliserer mange af disse forbindelser. Vores gruppe kombinerer en stærk baggrund inden for kemi med de nyeste teknologier i et forsøg på at afdække planters kemiske hemmeligheder, med særligt fokus på alkaloider og glukosinolater. De bioteknologiske anvendelsesmuligheder omfatter fremstilling af lægemiddelforbindelser i omkostningseffektive systemer og fjernelse af næringshæmmende forbindelser fra lovende afgrøder.

Find mere information om gruppen i menuen under billedet.

Forskningstemaer

Alkaloid biosynthesis. Alkaloids are a class of natural products that have had an enormous impact on the quality of human life. Their impressive range of bioactivities has ensured their widespread utilization as pharmaceuticals, stimulants, and pesticides (e.g. morphine, caffeine, nicotine). Our group specializes in the discovery of enzymes involved in the stepwise conversion from simple metabolic building blocks to complex alkaloids.
Synthetic biology. We use the new knowledge generated within our alkaloid biosynthesis work to devise and test strategies for the cost-effective production of medicinal alkaloids in production organisms such as yeast or the model plant Nicotiana benthamiana. In cases where toxic alkaloids accumulate in promising crop plants, we use novel breeding technologies to remove the toxic alkaloids from the edible parts of the plant in a selective manner.
Glucosinolates and chemical ecology (Associate Professor Niels Agerbirk). Glucosinolates are natural products in plants of the mustard order (e.g. mustard, cabbage, cress) and whose metabolic products present a variety of defensive or signaling functions. Our group investigates the structural diversity of glucosinolates and their products across a range of plant species. Recent focus has been on winter cress (Barbarea vulgaris), where glucosinolates are precursors of phytoalexins and a range of sulfur-compounds of yet unknown function.

For students wishing to work within these topics,. M.Sc. and B.Sc. projects are currently available. Please contact feg@plen.ku.dk

Forskningsprojekter

Towards sustainable protein sources for Europe: biosynthesis of the lupin alkaloids (VILLUM Foundation, 2017-2021)
Elucidation of the biosynthetic pathway towards the anti-nutritional alkaloids vicine and convicine in faba beans (WP4 in NORFAB consortium, Innovation Foundation, 2017-2019)
Discovery of novel enzymes in alkaloid biosynthesis (NNF Postdoc Fellowship awarded to Ting Yang, 2017-2019)
Diversity, regulation and biosynthesis of new chemical defences in wintercress and watercress (Torben & Alice Frimodts Foundation, 2017-2020)