Key Research Areas

Research Interests

• Molecular cloning and characterization of rice antimicrobial peptides
• Metabolomics of stress-tolerant rice
• Enhancing phytonutrients in cruciferous vegetables
• Starch biosynthesis in cassava
• Engineering cyanobacteria for the production of plant bioactive compounds

Research Overview

Plants produce a vast array of metabolites that play important roles during growth, development, and environmental stresses. Our group uses transcriptomics and metabolomics to reveal gene regulations and metabolic changes in rice under salt stress. Two different cultivars that differ in salt tolerance were used and multivariate data analyses of metabolite data were performed (Fig.1). We revealed how the salt tolerance cultivar can recover faster then the sensitive cultivar. Gene-to-metabolite relationship was also studied. Using the similar strategy, we have been studying the isoflavone and chromene biosyntheses in Pueraria mirifica. In addition, we have been investigating the resistance mechanism in camptothecin producing plants. Camptothecin, an anticancer alkaloid, is a topoisomerase I inhibitor. We used molecular dynamic simulation to suggest additional point mutations in topoisomerase I of producing plants (Fig. 2). These mutations can be exploited for designing novel anticancer drugs.