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Synthetic biology to discover kratom natural product biosynthetic pathways for biased analgesic development

Award Number: R01AT012633
ORGANIZATION: CENTER FOR DRUG EVALUATION AND RESEARCH, NIH
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

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Synthetic biology to discover kratom natural product biosynthetic pathways for biased analgesic development - Project Summary Opioid alternative analgesics that would kill pain potently without the respiratory side effect will be of specific importance in addressing the opioid crisis. The medicinal herb kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) produces natural products (mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine) that selectively activate analgesia only, which are promising “biased” opioid alternatives. Elucidating the kratom biosynthetic pathway composed of enzymes catalyzing sequential reactions toward the syntheses of mitragynine, 7-hydroxymitragynine, or other kratom products is important to the development of “biased” non-opioid analgesics. We propose to identify and reconstruct both the kratom biosynthetic pathways and the plant enzyme complexes organizing plant biosynthesis in yeast by integrating plant functional genomics analysis and synthetic biology. The research will provide new chemical and plant biology knowledge to a broader community, develop a post-translational level understanding of plant pathway regulation in yeast, and highlight the possibility of using synthetic biology to understand how nature achieves complicated natural product biosynthesis. This proposal will develop the conceptual framework to understand how nature organizes the specialized metabolism in plant toward high efficiency and complexity. The development of high-throughput protein-protein interaction method in yeast for plant complex identification will provide new methods and knowledge for plant pathway discovery and reconstruction. The methods and knowledge we develop toward these goals will also enable the structural elucidation, biological activity evaluation, and microbial production of biased opioid alternatives, leading to the development of next-generation painkillers to address the opioid crisis.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $420,542 )
2025	2025	CORNELL UNIVERSITY	341 PINE TREE RD	ITHACA	NY	14850	TOMPKINS	USA	Research and Training in Complementary and Integrative Health	000	2	3/24/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$420,542
														Subtotal = $420,542

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $427,412 )
2024	2024	CORNELL UNIVERSITY	341 PINE TREE RD	ITHACA	NY	14850	TOMPKINS	USA	Research and Training in Complementary and Integrative Health	000	1	6/6/2024	NEW	$427,412
														Subtotal = $427,412

Grand Total All Awards = $847,954

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Synthetic biology to discover kratom natural product biosynthetic pathways for biased analgesic development

Award Number: R01AT012633

ORGANIZATION: CENTER FOR DRUG EVALUATION AND RESEARCH, NIH

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

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