Plant Metabolic Engineering for High Value Products 2011−2015

PlantEngineCOST Action FA1006

Objectives and Achievements−Establishment of a highly interdisciplinary platform of scientists and

research institutions in the field of plant natural products (PNP), especially

those compounds used as pharmaceuticals, fragrances, and fine chemicals.

−Definition of the status quo of the scattered research on PNP biosynthesis and

its modification, and identification of future avenues of research.

−Initiation of an inventory of resources and expertise in PNPs and their

manipulation in planta.

−Bringing together European scientists, finding new intersections of research

areas, and assemble strong sub−teams enabled to propose new collaborative

research programs.

−Establishment of a platform for training, education, and motivation of skilled

young scientists in the field of PNP research.

−Transferring results regarding plant metabolic engineering to an application

level which could benefit the European society on its way to eco−efficient and

bio−based production of high value products.

www.plantengine.eu

Plant Metabolic Engineering for High Value Products 2011−2015

Working Group 1 − Status quo & Road Map−Defining the status quo of current PNP research in Europe and developing a road map for future research foci

−Development of standards for databases and computational tools in PNP research − Establishing plant

metabolic engineering resources and expertises.

Working Group 2 − Molecular Tools−Identification .of bottlenecks in metabolic pathways and development of shortcuts for unknown reaction

steps

−Engineering of pathway steps and enzymes for more efficient production of valuable compounds

−Establishing and disseminate transformation techniques for plants and tissue cultures to enable the

generation of efficient production hosts

Participating countriesAustria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands,

Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom.

Contact detailsChair of the Action

Heribert Warzecha, Professor, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany warzecha@bio.tu−darmstadt.de

Science Officer

Science Officer Food and Agriculture, COST Office, ioanna.stavridou@cost.eu

Working Group 3 − System Engineering Approach−Understanding major switches influencing PNP pathways

−Indentifying ways to control metabolic flux in PNP networks and apply system engineering approaches

−Understanding and reducing degradation processes of PNP of interest

Industry participation−LABOULET − Xavier Guillot, R&D coordinator, France, xavier.guillot@laboulet.fr, www.laboulet.fr

−SoluCel − Jan Pen, CEO Finland jan.pen@solucel.fi http://www.solucel.com

−Proplanta − Anca Baciu Manager, Romania cproplanta@yahoo.com, http://www.proplanta.ro

−others