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Project

Joining forces: Leveraging large metabolite and enzymatic PhD datasets (KU Leuven) in a computational systems biology approach (Oxford University) to increase our insights into the metabolic network of CAM plants

In this research, forces of KU Leuven and Oxford University are joined to increase our insights into the metabolic network of plants with Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM). The research group of Prof. Sweetlove (Oxford University) recently developed a multi-phase model for CAM by computational modelling. This model can account for the dynamics in metabolites during the cycle at a 2h time resolution but has many degrees of freedom which results in many different possible flux modes. The innovative approach of combining unique CAM datasets that have been assembled at KU Leuven, containing dozen of metabolites and enzyme activities in the CAM leaf of Phalaenopsis, with computational modelling will allow to select from these many flux solutions the ones that match biological reality. As such the research will not only contribute to a system-wide understanding of the metabolic dynamics of CAM plants, but also to the development of metabolic engineering strategies for the bioengineering of CAM into non-CAM crops.
Date:1 Jan 2020 →  15 Mar 2021
Keywords:crassulacean acid metabolism, enzyme kinetics, metabolite dynamics, systems biology
Disciplines:Other biotechnology, bio-engineering and biosystem engineering not elsewhere classified