KSEF R&D Excellence: Enhanced Production of Jasmonic Acid and Its Derivatives in Plant Tissues

Jasmonic acid (JA) and its derivatives are a group of oxidative products of fatty acids, known as oxylipins found in plants. The formation of JA trom its original precursor linolenic acid involves several enzymatic steps: lip oxygenase, allene oxide synthase, allene oxide cyclase, 12oxophytodienoate reductase and ~-oxidations. They are well-documented to be involved in plant resistance against insect herbivores and necrophytic plant pathogenic fungi. More evidences are being reported for JA's involvement in various plant developments. The methyl ester of JA (MJ) is one of the major fragrance contributors to jasmine flowers as well as several orchid flowers and also an important flavor and aroma enhancer of food and beverage products. MJ can be converted into jasmone, another important jasmine tragrance, by certain plant tissues such as jasmine flowers. Recently, MJ as well as didehydro derivatives ofMJ were also found to be potent anti-cancer agents. The production ofthese compounds from natural sources is highly desirable. We, therefore, propose to enhance the production of JA and its various derivatives in a crop plant that can grown competitively by Kentucky farmers by over-expressing rate-liming enzyme(s) such as allene oxide synthase and jasmonic acid methyltransferase. The rate-limiting step(s) will be identified in several target plant tissues known to be moderatelhigh JA/MJ producers by feeding them with an excess precursor such as linolenic acid, its hydroperoxide or 12-oxophytodienoic acid, and analyzing the production/accumulation of intermediates. The cDNAs for the enzymes will be cloned from plants known to have high activity of the enzymes for efficient production such as jasmine flowers and used for crop genetic engineering. These transgenic crop plants created will be used in bioreactor systems in the future. Keywords: oxylipin, eicosanoid, aroma, anti-cancer, omega3