Caatinga: molecular identity studies

Historically, natural products have often been used as sources of new drugs, particularly in the case of alkaloids. The study of plants is currently under transformation, with the increasing availability of molecular and bioinformatics tools that help understand their physiology and realize their potential benefits as sources of new bioactive chemical entities with pharmaceutical interest. Taking advantage of these technologies is important, since the careful study of biosynthetic routes of the main natural products and the assessment of predictive value in silico can bring improved success for bioprospection. This project aims at producing and articulating high impact scientific knowledge from Caatinga plants, about their chemical and molecular features, through omic strategies in a pioneering fashion. The study will focus on obtaining proteome, transcriptome, and metabolome data from tree medicinal native plants from Brazil, widespread in Caatinga, as well as to carry out the bioprospection of bioactive alkaloids using predictive analysis in silico. The integrative and transdisciplinary correlation of the data outcomes can contribute to a better understanding of secondary metabolism in plants in the semiarid/xeric environmental conditions, such as the Caatinga, in comparison to common tropical biomes, such as the Atlantic Forest. Besides, upon its completion, this project is expected to contribute to the characterization of model plants from Brazilian biomes for molecular studies, thereby creating a platform for plant studies in little known biomes with unique features.长期以来，天然产物一直是新药研发的重要来源，生物碱（alkaloids）领域更是如此。当前植物学研究正处于转型期，分子生物学与生物信息学工具的可及性不断提升，这些工具可助力解析植物的生理特性，挖掘其作为具有药用价值的新型生物活性化学实体（bioactive chemical entities）来源的潜在应用价值。充分利用此类技术至关重要：对主要天然产物的生物合成途径开展深入研究，并通过计算机模拟（in silico）评估其预测价值，能够有效提升生物勘探（bioprospection）的研发成功率。本项目旨在以开创性的组学（omic）策略，解析卡廷加（Caatinga）原生植物的化学与分子特征，从而产出并整合具有高影响力的科学知识。本研究将聚焦于从巴西广泛分布于卡廷加区域的本土药用木本植物中获取蛋白质组（proteome）、转录组（transcriptome）与代谢组（metabolome）数据，同时通过计算机模拟预测分析开展生物活性生物碱的生物勘探工作。相较于大西洋森林（Atlantic Forest）等常见热带生物群系，本研究通过对实验结果开展整合性与跨学科的关联分析，将有助于更深入地理解卡廷加这类半干旱/旱生环境下植物的次生代谢过程。此外，本项目完成后，将助力巴西各生物群系模式植物的分子研究鉴定工作，进而为研究那些特征独特但尚少被探索的生物群系中的植物提供研究平台。