Research Group: High-Value Phytochemicals

• Elucidation of the biosynthetic pathways of plant produced bioactive diterpenoids. We are engaged mainly with medicinal plant species such as Coleus forskohlii (target compound: Forskolin), Vitex agnus-castus (target: dopaminergic compounds), T. wilfordii (target: Triptolide), Euphorbia lathyris and Euphorbia peplus (Target: ingenol-3-angelate pathway), Eremophila spp. (target: serrulatanes) and Ginkgo biloba (target: Ginkgolide diterpenoids).
• Combinatorial biochemistry by mixing and matching biosynthetic modules/enzymes from different species, in plant or yeast cells, to identify structural analogs or new-to-nature diterpenoids.
• Sustainable production of diterpenoids: Through techniques of synthetic biology, we are introducing functional biosynthetic pathways in scalable heterologous hosts (e.g. yeast).
• Regulation of diterpenoids biosynthesis: We study the factors that regulate terpenoids biosynthesis at molecular and biochemical level. Forskolin pathway is used as model where structural and functional roles of the forskolin metabolon components are studied.

• From prehistory to the future: Expanding the potential of Ginkgo biloba – study the biosynthesis of Ginkgo terpenoids, funded by DFF, Grant holder Irini Pateraki
• Brewing Diterpenoids - platform for enhanced drug discovery , Grant holder Birger Lindberg Møller
• Desert-loving Therapeutics, 2017-2021 (Interdisciplinary Synergy Programme funding by Novo Nordisk Fonden). Profiling of the diterpenoid composition of all approx. 230 species of the Australian desert plant genus Eremophila and pathway elucidation of target diterpenoids based on their observed bioactivities, Grant holder Birger Lindberg Møller

• Heskes AM, Sundram TCM, Boughton BA, Jensen NB, Crocoll C, Cozzi F, Rasmussen S, Hamberger Bj, Hamberger Br, Staerk D, Møller BL, Pateraki I. 2018. Biosynthesis of bioactive diterpenoids in the medicinal plant Vitex agnus-castus. The Plant Journal, doi:10.1111/tpj.13822.
• Hansen NL, Heskes AM, Hamberger B, Olsen CE, Hallström BM, Andersen-Ranberg J, Hamberger B. 2017. The terpene synthase gene family in Tripterygium wilfordii harbors a labdane-type diterpene synthase among the monoterpene synthase TPS-b subfamily. Plant J, 89: 429-441
• Pateraki I, Andersen-Ranberg J, Jensen NB, Wubshet SG, Heskes AM, Forman V, Hallström B, Hamberger B, Motawia MS, Olsen CE, Staerk D, Hansen J, Møller BL, Hamberger BR. 2017. Total biosynthesis of the cyclic AMP booster forskolin from Coleus forskohlii. eLife 10.7554/eLife.23001

• Luo D, Callari R, Hamberger B, Wubshet SG, Nielsen MT, Andersen-Ranberg J, Hallström BM, Cozzi F, Heider H, Møller BL, Staerk D, Hamberger B. 2016. Oxidation and cyclization of Casbene in the biosynthesis of Euphorbia factors from mature seeds of Euphorbia lathyris L. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 113, p. E5082-E5089
• Pateraki I, Andersen-Ranberg J, Hamberger B, Heskes AM, Martens HJ, Zerbe P, Bach SS, Møller BL, Bohlmann J, Hamberger BR. 2014. Manoyl oxide (13R), the biosynthetic precursor of forskolin, is synthesized in specialized root cork cells in Coleus forskohlii. Cover story. Plant Physiol.; 164:1222-1236.

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Institut for Plante- og Miljøvidenskab har forskellige bachelor- og kandidatuddannelser:

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• Professor Poul Erik Jensen, Department of Plant and Environmental Science, University of Copenhagen
• Professor Ulrik Gether, Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen
• Dan Stærk, Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen
• Dr Mike Bayly, University of Melbourne, Australia
• Bevan Buirchell, Wise Owl Consulting, Perth, Australia
• Dr Susan Semple, University of South Australia, Australia
• Evolva A/S
• Assoc. Professor Sotirios Kampranis, Department of Plant and Environmental Science, University of Copenhagen
• Professor Albert Boronat, University of Barcelona