Metabolomics targets gene function
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| Basil Nikolau, director of the Center for Designer Crops, and Ann Perera, lab manager of the W.M. Keck Metabolomics Research Laboratoy. |
Iowa State researchers will lead a project designed to understand the functions of plant genes by studying their effect on the plant's chemical makeup.
To determine each gene's function, researchers will ascertain how the absence of that gene function (caused by a mutation) affects the plant's metabolites. Metabolites are biochemical constituents that are intermediates in the biosynthesis of plant products, such as oils, sugars and proteins.
"We're looking at metabolites and working up to the genes from the bottom," said project leader Basil Nikolau, professor of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology and director of the Center for Designer Crops and the W.M. Keck Metabolomics Research Laboratory. "We'll use metabolomics to decipher the function of genes whose functions are unknown. It's a new way of doing that."
"Ultimately, understanding gene function will lead to improvements in oils, starches and proteins from plants, including corn and soybeans," Nikolau said.
The National Science Foundation is financing the $1 million, two-year project, which focuses on genes in Arabidopsis, a plant used as a model organism in research. Arabidopsis is the first plant to have its entire genetic code deciphered, but the functions of about a third of its 25,000 genes are still unknown.
The pilot project will focus on 100 Arabidopsis genes. Researchers will use instruments that detect about 2,000 metabolites in plant material. First they'll find how environmental and developmental stimuli affect metabolite production. Then they'll establish conditions that minimize those effects and analyze plants in which targeted genes are "knocked out." They'll integrate the results with data from protein function, gene transcription and other studies to create new tools for determining gene function.
Other Iowa State researchers involved are Julie Dickerson, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering; Philip Dixon, professor of statistics; George Kraus, University Professor of chemistry; Nicola Pohl, assistant professor of chemistry; and Eve Wurtele, professor of genetics, development and cell biology.
