Researchers from the Department of Plant Physiology are supported by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, Program IDEAS, for the project "Omics-guided disentangling of the iridoid diversity in the genus Nepeta L. for in planta metabolic engineering towards sustainable exploitation" NEPETOME, grant numbe 7749433. Project will last for three years (2022-2025).

Abstract

Nepeta L. is the largest genus of the Lamiaceae family, and the exclusive representative of the subfamily Nepetoidae which produces iridoids. Being inspired by multi-level diversity of iridoid compounds within the genus Nepeta, and by their tremendous but underutilized biopesticide potential, NEPETOME aims to elucidate the molecular background of this diversity by comparatively analyzing transcriptomes and metabolomes of chemodiverse Nepeta taxa, and to develop meaningful measures to enhance the supply of these compounds for humanity. The challenge ahead is to take advantages of the gathered knowledge to scale up the production of desired iridoids in planta by adopting state-of-the art metabolic engineering techniques. NEPETOME will target iridoid aglycones with proven biopesticide potential, which are present as major (nepetalactone stereoisomers) or minor constituents (5,9-dehydronepetalactone), and the dominant iridoid glycoside 1,5,9-epideoxyloganic acid. Components of the core iridoid biosynthetic pathway up to nepetalactone have been recently characterized. However, a lot of work still needs to be done in order to reconstruct gene and metabolic networks downstream of nepetalactone, define regulatory mechanisms that drive the productivity of plants, and explain inter- and intra-species diversity of iridoids in this group of plants. Following functional characterization of remaining unknown genes of the pathway leading to desired iridoids, NEPETOME will adopt multi-gene engineering strategies to transiently or stably introduce and express the genes of interest into heterologous and homologous plants, and thus make the initial steps towards the large-scale production of Nepeta iridoids in plant factories. NEPETOME focusses on innovative and emerging topics supporting the European goal of Bio-based economy (BBE), and its R&D pipeline will deliver technologies to sustainably produce raw materials for biopesticide products, to conquer the market spaces such as animal and human health, and biological control.

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Team members:

Dr. Danijela Mišić, team leader
Dr. Uroš Gašić
Dr. Branislav Šiler
Dr. Slavica Dmitrović
Dr. Marijana Skorić
Dr. Dragana Matekalo
Dr. Jasmina Nestorović Živković
Dr. Tijana Banjanac
Dr. Biljana Filipović
Dr. Milica Milutinović
Dr. Jelena Božunović
Dr. Neda Aničić