Studies on hydroxylation reactions in the flavonoid pathway

This application for the newly founded Elise Richter scholarship focuses on a habilitation in the scientific field of phytochemistry at the Institut für Verfahrenstechnik, Umwelttechnik und Technische Biowissenschaften at the Technical University of Vienna. An Elise Richter scholarship will allow the applicant to concentrate fully on the habilitation process in order to (i) extend her publication list, (ii) complete the scientific work for the habilitation thesis, (iii) prepare and submit the habilitation thesis and (iv) successfully complete the habilitation process. After habilitation the applicant will be egligible to hold a professor`s position at an Austrian or foreign university. The proposed habilitation thesis will focus on the creation of different hydroxylation patterns in the flavonoid pathway. Flavonoids are important secondary metabolites, which are ubiquitously present in plants, and fulfil a wide variety of physiological functions in plants. Recent research has shown that many flavonoids are also beneficial for human health. The multitude of different flavonoid structures in nature is achieved by extensive modification of the basic structures through hydroxylation, glycosylation, methylation, acylation, prenylation or sulfation. The modification pattern has a trong influence on the properties of the resulting chemical compound. Fore example, one important function of flavonoids is flower coloration in ornamental plants. The brightly coloured anthocyanins give rise to violet, blue and red colouration. Although carotenoids are the most common yellow plant pigments, some flavonoids - such as yellow flavonols - and the biosynthetically related anthochlor pigments, chalcones and aurones, also contribute to yellow flower color. The proposed project will focus on several biosynthetic steps which introduce hydroxyl groups into the flavonoid pathway. These will include (i) hydroxylation of chalcones and aurones in the B-ring and (ii) introduction of additional hydroxyl groups in the A-ring of flavonols. The research will endeavour to achieve the first isolation and characterisation of the tagetes cDNA encoding the F6H enzyme, the first isolation and characterisation of a cDNA encoding either CH3H or F3H enzyme with an exciting novel substrate specificity and will also investigate the still largely unknown biosynthesis of 4-deoxyaurones. Beside their great physiological importance for the plants, the investigated substances are also of significant interest for related scientific fields such as nutritional science, pharmacognosy and pharmacology as well as commercial horticulture.