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| Production of Bioactive Secondary Metabolites by Cell and Tissue Cultures of Marine Seaweeds in Bioreactor Systems |
| Support: NOAA Oregon Sea Grant Program (1991-1995), NOAA Marine Biotechnology Initiative (1994-1998), NSF Bioengineering & Environmental Systems (1998-2003, NSF-BES homepage) |
| Graduate Students: Jason Modrell (M.S.1993), Hanshi Qi (M.S.1994), Chunxing Zhi (M.S.1994), Sundar Ramanan (M.S. 1997), Ronald Mullikin (M.S. 1998), Yao-ming Huang (Ph.D. 2001), Mary Tucker (M.S., 1999); Jason Polzin (Ph.D. current) |
| Collaborators: Prof. Donald P. Cheney, Marine Science Center, Northeastern University, Boston, MA (1994-present, Cheney Research Group homepage); Prof. William Gerwick, College of Pharmacy, Oregon State University (1994-1998) |
| Project Description: Nonvascular marine plants, commonly known as
seaweeds or macroalgae, produce novel secondary metabolites with unique
pharmacological activities, including anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor activities.
Many macroalgae that contain bioactive
secondary metabolites are rare in the marine environment, and often exist only
in delicate marine ecosystems such as tide pools or coral reefs, as these
bioactive chemicals protect the organism from their competitors. Therefore, collection of native seaweeds from
their natural habitat is not a sustainable option for obtaining their bioactive
compounds. However, cell and tissue
cultures derived from marine macroaglae have the
biosynthetic capacity to produce the same or similar bioactive compounds
found in the native plant. Furthermore,
the cultivation of macrolalgal cell and tissue
suspensions in biological reactors offers the means to control both biomass
production and secondary metabolite biosynthesis. Therefore, this bioprocess engineering approach
holds significant promise for securing supplies of drug candidates from
marine seaweeds in the quantities needed for continued development, clinical
testing, or eventual commercial production. |
| The
objectives of this collaborative research are to: 1) Establish phototrophic cell
and tissue suspension cultures for brown, green, and red seaweeds that produce
bioactive metabolites, including partially oxidized fatty acids and halogenated
terpenoids; 2) Study the controlled cultivation
of cell and tissue cultures derived from marine seaweeds in various photobioreactor
systems; 3) Determine the types and concentration of bioactive
secondary metabolites expressed by the cell and tissue cultures; 4) Propose
strategies to enhance secondary metabolite biosynthesis in bioreactor culture. |
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