Professor Poul Jensen, Center for Synthetic Biology and Villum Center of Excellence “Plant Plasticity”, Copenhagen Plant Science Center, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen
Monday 17th March, 4.00 p.m., Marlowe Lecture Theatre 1
Photosynthesis in plants, green algae and cyanobacteria converts solar energy into chemical energy that is used to create carbon building blocks required for synthesis of a wealth of chemical compounds(1). Many plants also produce so-called bioactive natural products of which many have potential uses as pharmaceuticals. In the course of evolution, energy generation and biosynthetic capacities have been compartmentalized. Through a synthetic biology approach, enzymes like the cytochrome P450s requiring reducing equivalents in their reactions can be coupled directly to the photosynthetic energy generation. We have recently demonstrated that it is possible to break the evolutionary compartmentalization of energy generation and P450-catalysed biosynthesis, by relocating an entire P450 dependent pathway to the chloroplast and driving the pathway by direct use of the reducing power generated by the photosynthetic apparatus in a light-dependent manner(2).
1. Jensen K, Jensen PE, Møller BL (2012). Light-driven chemical synthesis. Trends in Plant Science 17(2): 60-63.
2. Zygadlo Nielsen A, Friis Ziersen BE, Jensen K, Lassen LM, Olsen CE, Møller BL, Jensen PE (2013). Redirecting photosynthetic reducing power towards bioactive natural product synthesis. ACS Synthetic Biology, ACS Synth. Biol. 2013, 2, 308?315: dx.doi.org/10.1021/sb300128r.