Applications for Synthetic Biology in Industrial Biotechnology
Friday, 29 November 2013
Cineworld: The O2, London, SE10 0DX, UK
With their provenance as an excellent source of pharmaceutical, neutraceutical and health promoting chemistries, plant natural products are an attractive target for biotechnological development for industrialization so as to make them more widely available. To realize this potential, two strategies are currently being employed whereby the associated metabolic pathways are engineered in planta, or are ectopically expressed in microbial hosts and produced through fermentation. In both cases it is clear that recent developments in genetics, and our understanding of metabolism are providing us with unprecedented tools to fast-track these ambitions. In addition, the advent of synthetic biology, where approaches more commonly employed in engineering are applied to design and optimize bioprocesses has much to offer industrial biotechnology in the future.
In this meeting a series of metabolic engineering programs representing each of the differing strategies for natural product biosynthesis will be presented and the potential merits of plant Vs microbial industrial biotechnology discussed, along with projections as to how each might benefit from synthetic biology based approaches. In addition to reviewing the latest development in plant natural product biochemistry and molecular biology, the meeting will be formative in shaping thinking as to how and where new approaches like synthetic biology can be best applied in industrial biotechnology in the coming years. This meeting will also include a meeting of the High Value Chemicals from Plants Network.
This event has CPD accreditation and is part of
The 2013 BioProcessing Summit - www.BioprocessingSummit2013.com
Meeting Chair: Professor Robert Edwards, Chief Scientist, The Food and Environment Research Agency
9:00 – 9:25 Registration
9:25 – 9:30 Introduction by the Chair: Professor Robert Edwards, Chief Scientist, The Food and Environment Research Agency
9:30 – 10:00 Talk title to be confirmed
Professor John Ward, University College London, United Kingdom
10:00 – 10:30 Cultured cambial meristematic cells as a source of plant natural products
Professor Gary Loake, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland
A plethora of important, chemically diverse natural products are derived from plants. In principle, plant cell culture offers an attractive option for producing many of these compounds. However, it is often not commercially viable because of difficulties associated with culturing dedifferentiated plant cells (DDCs) on an industrial scale. To bypass the dedifferentiation step, we isolated and cultured innately undifferentiated cambial meristematic cells (CMCs). Using a combination of deep sequencing technologies, we identified marker genes and transcriptional programs consistent with a stem cell identity. This notion was further supported by the morphology of CMCs, their hypersensitivity to γ-irradiation and radiomimetic drugs and their ability to differentiate at high frequency. Suspension culture of CMCs derived from Taxus cuspidata, the source of the key anticancer drug, paclitaxel (Taxol), circumvented obstacles routinely associated with the commercial growth of DDCs. These cells may provide a cost-effective and environmentally friendly platform for sustainable production of a variety of important plant natural products.
10:30 – 10:55 Speakers’ photo then mid-morning break and trade show
Please try to visit all the exhibition stands during your day at this event. Not only do our sponsors enable Euroscicon to keep the registration fees competitive, but they are also here specifically to talk to you.
10:55– 11:00 Introduction by the Chair: Professor Ian Graham, CNAP Director and Weston Chair of Biochemical Genetics, University of York, United Kingdom
11:00 – 11:30 Engineering flavonoid metabolism in yeast
Professor Robert Edwards , Chief Scientist, The Food and Environment Research Agency
Phenylpropanoids are simple aromatic natural products found in all plants which are used as the building blocks for a wide range of polyphenols including a diverse array of flavonoids with activities as diverse as dietary cytoprotectants, colourants and flavour enhancers. Using polyprotein technology we have engineered bakers’ yeast to transform readily available phenylpropanoids left over from brewing and biofuel production into high value flavonoids, including glycosylated derivatives with uses as artificial sweeteners. The approach adopted shows the value of effectively transferring plant metabolic pathways into non-natural hosts to extend the diversity of end products which can be generated in useful quantities.
11:30 – 12:00 Metabolic engineering of high value lipids in transgenic plants
Professor Johnathan Napier, Rothamsted Research Limited, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
Using genetic engineering it is now possible to generate transgenic plants which have the capacity to synthesise high value fatty acids such as the omega-3 long chain polyunsaturates.
12:00 – 12:30 Lunch and trade show
12:30– 14:30 High Value Chemicals from Plants Network Meeting
14:30 – 15:00 Engineering polyphenols in tomatoes
Professor Cathie Martin, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, UK
15:00 – 15:25 Afternoon Tea/Coffee and trade show
Please try to visit all the exhibition stands during your day at this event. Not only do our sponsors enable Euroscicon to keep the registration fees competitive, but they are also here specifically to talk to you.
15:25 – 15:30 Introduction by the Chair: Professor Gary Loake, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland
15:30 – 16:00 A ten gene cluster responsible for synthesis of the anticancer alkaloid noscapine in opium poppy
Professor Ian Graham, CNAP Director and Weston Chair of Biochemical Genetics, University of York, United Kingdom
Noscapine is an antitumor alkaloid from opium poppy that binds tubulin, arrests metaphase and induces apoptosis in dividing human cells. We recently discovered a cluster of 10 genes encoding five distinct enzyme classes that are responsible for noscapine production in poppy (Winzer et al., Science, 2012). Virus induced gene silencing resulted in accumulation of pathway intermediates allowing a novel biosynthetic pathway to be proposed. This advance adds to our knowledge of gene clusters in plants and will enable improvement in commercial production of noscapine and related bioactive molecules.
16:00 – 16:30 Genome mining and metabolic engineering for triterpene synthesis
Professor Anne Osbourn, Associate Research Director, John Innes Centre
Plants produce a huge array of natural products, many of which are specialised metabolites associated with particular species. These secondary metabolites often have important ecological functions. Although the ability of plants to perform in vivo combinatorial chemistry by mixing, matching and evolving the genes required for different secondary metabolite biosynthetic pathways is likely to have been critical for survival and diversification of the Plant Kingdom we know very little about the mechanisms underpinning this process. This talk will focus on plant natural product function and synthesis, the origins of metabolic diversity and potential for metabolic engineering, drawing on our research on triterpene synthesis in crop and model plants. Triterpenes have important ecological and agronomic functions, contributing to pest and pathogen resistance and to food quality in crop plants. They also have a wide range of commercial applications in the food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical sectors.
16:30 – 17:00 Chairmen’s summing up
Registration Website: http://www.regonline.co.uk/smallscale12
About the Chairs:
Robert Edwards is the Chief Scientist at the Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) and also runs a research group at the University of York in the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, where he has a Chair in Crop Protection. He was formerly Head of Biology at Durham University, with 26 years of postdoctoral experience as a Plant Biochemist working in the public and private sectors in the UK and USA. As co-ordinator of the cross Research Council-funded network ‘Synthetic Plant Products for Industry’ he has been working with industrialists and academics on applications for synthetic biology in the improvement and utilisation of crop plants in biorefining. Research interests in metabolic engineering include manipulating high value flavonoid production and the biotransformation of synthetic chemicals. Expertise in natural products at Fera includes state-of-the-art facilities in measuring a wide range of analytes in food and environmental samples and research programmes in biorenewables.
Ian Graham holds the Weston Chair of Biochemical Genetics and is the Director of the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products (CNAP) at the University of York. His research interests focus on seed biology and metabolic engineering of novel oils and other high value chemicals. Current projects range from the development of novel oilcrops such as Jatropha curcas to medicinal plants such as Artemisia annua that produces the anti-malarial compound artemisinin and opium poppy that produces analgesics and other compounds for the pharmaceutical industry. Funding for Ian’s research comes from a range of sources including industry, UK Government, EU and various charities.
Gary Loake’s research aims to understand the molecular mechanisms underpinning plant disease and resistance. 1996 Joined University of Edinburgh, 1995-1996 Senior Postdoctoral Fellow, The Plant Laboratory, University of York, UK, 1991-1994 Salk-Noble Plant Biology Fellow, Salk Institute, California, USA, 1990-1991 Salk-Noble Plant Biology Fellow, Samuel Robert Noble Foundation, 1990 Ph.D. University of Durham, Durham, UK
About the Speakers
Johnathan A. Napier’s research on the biosynthesis of polyunsaturated fatty acids has delivered some of the key advances in the last 15 years. He obtained his BSc from the University of Nottingham, followed by a PhD in plant biochemistry from King’s College, London. He carried out post-doctoral research in the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, then taking up a position at Long Ashton Research Station in Bristol. His research group relocated to Rothamsted Research in 2003 where he is currently Institute Assistant Director and Programme Leader. Johnathan is also an Affiliated Lecturer at the University of Cambridge.
Anne Osbourn is Associate Research Director of the John Innes Centre, Norwich. Her research focuses on plant natural products – function, synthesis and metabolic diversification. She is an author of over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications and recently co-edited a comprehensive textbook on plant-derived natural products [Lanzotti V & Osbourn A. (2009) Plant-derived natural products – Synthesis, function and application. Springer, New York, USA]. She has also developed and co-ordinates the Science, Art and Writing (SAW) initiative, a cross-curricular science education programme for schools (www.sawtrust.org).
Post expires at 3:13pm on Friday November 29th, 2013