DynaMo Seminar: Reuben Peters

DNRF Center DynaMo is happy to invite to a seminar with

Professor Reuben J. Peters
Iowa State University

on

To gibberellins and beyond! Diterpenoids in plants and microbes

The importance of gibberellins as hormones necessary for higher plant growth and development has led to their production by not only plants, but also plant associated microbes. Our work has uncovered a biosynthetic operon associated with gibberellin biosynthesis in (rhizo)bacteria, and we are studying both the corresponding biochemical pathway, and the physiological relevance of such bacterial phytohormone production in plant-microbe interactions as well. Moreover, the requisite production of gibberellins in plants has provided a genetic reservoir of biosynthetic genes whose duplication and divergence underlies the widespread production of more specialized diterpenoid metabolites. Accordingly, we also are investigating such evolution of diterpenoid biosynthesis, using rice as a model system, and have not only functionally identified, but also significantly increased understanding, of the relevant biosynthetic enzymes, including discovery of a potential biochemical regulatory mechanism in gibberellin metabolism. Finally, our characterization of the underlying metabolic network has enabled a reverse genetic approach, revealing a range of biological activity for the rice diterpenoid natural products.

Reuben J. Peters is Professor in Enzymatic and metabolic engineering of terpenoid biosynthesis at the Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology, Iowa State University, USA. He holds a PhD in Biochemistry from UC San Francisco and from 1998-2002 he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Washington State University. His main fields of research are within Plant Natural Products (Terpenoid) Biosynthesis Enzyme Mechanisms and Engineering; Biochemical Pathway Identification (Functional Genomics) and Metabolic Engineering.