Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

Flavonoids are widespread secondary plant metabolites important to human health as dietary anti-oxidants andfunctional foods. In epidemiological studies, the class of polymeric flavonoids known as proanthocyanidins isparticularly strongly linked to a reduced incidence of cardiovascular disease and some cancers.Proanthocyanidins are found in tea, cocoa, and fruit and berry crops. The research outlined in this proposal willidentify and test key regulatory genes for proanthocyanidin synthesis in apple and blueberry, and to enhanceproanthocyanidin levels in apple trees and fruit using metabolic engineering. We have recently identifiedpotent proanthocyanidin regulatory genes in poplar, which provide the starting point for this work. Blueberryand apple produce some proanthocyanidins together with a variety of other flavonoids; we will thereforeidentify the corresponding blueberry and apple regulatory genes, as well as genes encoding biosyntheticenzymes, in order to study their function in these functional food crops. Our proanthocyanidin regulators willalso be overexpressed in transgenic apple trees by our partner organization Okanagan Biotechnology Inc,leaders in the field of apple transformation, in order create high proanthocyanidin apples and to demonstratetheir efficacy in apple. Ultimately, we intend to assemble a tool box for precise metabolic engineering offunctional food genes, which will permit precise manipulation of health-promoting chemicals. The presence ofhealth-promoting proanthocyanidins in higher levels and in a greater variety of food plants will lead to reducedcardiovascular disease and increased health for Canadians.