Molecular biology of chinese herbs

June 19, 2003

There are so many responses to my previous simple message. Thanks all!

I'm asking this question for one of my friends at Chinese Academy of

Sciences, who is going to get a Ph.D in plant molecular genetics soon

and looking for a Postdoc position. He is now interested in molecular

biology of chinese medicine herbs, such as mapping and cloning of the

plant genes participating in production of secondary metabolites,

expression and regulation of these genes, and manipulation of

them...However, no such lab can be found in China! So he asked me to

find out the chance in USA. Since I know nothing about chinese herbs

(my major is microbiology), I posted the question here for help, where

is the best place I can find on line. If anyone knows any information

about this, please reply to this message or email me directly.

Thank you very much!

You Chen

Department of Biology

Texas A & M University

ychen

June 19, 2003

Dear You Chen,

I find your friend's objectives to be exquisitely horrifying and ghastly. So, of course, I can't help but be of assistance. ;-) You do a Medline search for the precise topics you've just listed for us below. The resulting papers list the author of the research quite often with their email address and of course it lists their institution and the institution's address. So your friend can write to the top labs who are actively engaged in the work he wants to do. Surely his Ph.D. thesis bibliography lists all the heavy hitters in his chosen field.

Oh, well. I just did a search on Medline and found a spot just down the road from you at Rice University in Houston, Texas. I've included the abstract at the end of this post so that you can directly communicate with the people there. So maybe you guys will be neighbors if he can get postdoctoral work at that lab.

Also don't overlook University of California at San Francisco. They just built a new square mile of research facilities along the waterfront specifically for biotech research. Even at the main campus there's lots of every kind of postdoc work available in San Francisco. It's sort of a Disneyland for biotech postdocs, and (unlike Houston) SF has a vast Chinese speaking community to make your friend feel at home.

Emmanuel Segmen

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youchen7227

Thursday, June 19, 2003 2:01 PM

Molecular biology of chinese herbs

There are so many responses to my previous simple message. Thanks all!I'm asking this question for one of my friends at Chinese Academy ofSciences, who is going to get a Ph.D in plant molecular genetics soonand looking for a Postdoc position. He is now interested in molecularbiology of chinese medicine herbs, such as mapping and cloning of theplant genes participating in production of secondary metabolites,expression and regulation of these genes, and manipulation ofthem...However, no such lab can be found in China! So he asked me tofind out the chance in USA. Since I know nothing about chinese herbs(my major is microbiology), I posted the question here for help, whereis the best place I can find on line. If anyone knows any informationabout this, please reply to this message or email me directly.Thank you very much!You ChenDepartment of BiologyTexas A & M Universityychen

Metabolic engineering of plants for alkaloid production.

Metab Eng 2002 Jan;4(1):41-8 (ISSN: 1096-7176)

Hughes EH; Shanks JV Department of Chemical Engineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.

Alkaloids purified from plants provide many pharmacologically active compounds, including leading chemotherapy drugs. As is generally true of secondary metabolites, overall productivity is low, making commercial production expensive. Alternative production methods remain impractical, leaving the plant as the best source for these valuable chemicals. Recently, significant progress in characterizing the biosynthetic pathways leading to various alkaloids has been made, and a number of relevant genes have been cloned. Metabolic engineering employing such genes provides a promising technology for improved productivity in plant cell cultures, plant tissue cultures, or intact plants. In exploring solutions though, metabolic engineers must be careful to recognize the limitations inherent in designing plant systems.

June 19, 2003

Dear You Chen,

Here's a few more papers for your friend to peruse. He won't have to leave China to work in these labs.

All the Best,

Emmanuel Segmen

[sequence analysis of 25S rDNA from Chinese medicinal plant duzhong Eucommia ulmoides Oliv.]

Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi 1998 Dec;23(12):707-9, 762 (ISSN: 1001-5302)

Chen Y; Qu L; Zhou H; Zhang H School of Life Science, Zhongshan University, Guangzhou 510275.

OBJECTIVE: To provide new molecular data for the identification of the Chinese medicinal plant Duzhong (Eucommia ulmoides). METHOD: Sequencing and analyzing the 25S rDNA gene(rDNA) 5' terminal region. RESULT: More than 300 nucleotides of 25S rDNA 5' terminal region were determined, and the specific nucleotides can be used for the identification of this medicinal plant. CONCLUSION: This sequence analysis may serve as a basis for preparing the specific rDNA probe.

_____

[Chemical pattern recognition of traditional Chinese medicine kudingcha (I)]

Zhong Yao Cai 1998 Mar;21(3):115-9 (ISSN: 1001-4454)

Su W; Wu Z; Chen J; He X; Li J Guangdong College of Pharmacy, Guangzhou 510224.

In this paper, the non-linear mapping method of pattern recognition was adopted to classify 78 samples of traditional Chinese medicine Kudingcha, with macro and trace elements as classified characteristic features. Ilex cornuta Lindl., Ilex latifolia Thunb. and Ligustrum lucidum Ait. were identified accurately. The results agree with those from pharmacognosy. This paper provides a new method for identification of traditional Chinese medicine.

________

Sequence-specific electrochemical detection of asymmetric PCR amplicons of traditional Chinese medicinal plant DNA.

Anal Chem 2002 Oct 1;74(19):5057-62 (ISSN: 0003-2700)

Lee TM; Hsing IM Department of Chemical Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon.

In this study, an electrochemistry-based approach to detect nucleic acid amplification products of Chinese herbal genes is reported. Using asymmetric polymerase chain reaction and electrochemical techniques, single-stranded target amplicons are produced from trace amounts of DNA sample and sequence-specific electrochemical detection based on the direct hybridization of the crude amplicon mix and immobilized DNA probe can be achieved. Electrochemically active intercalator Hoechst 33258 is bound to the double-stranded duplex formed by the target amplicon hybridized with the 5'-thiol-derivated DNA probe (16-mer) on the gold electrode surface. The electrochemical current signal of the hybridization event is measured by linear sweep voltammetry, the response of which can be used to differentiate the sequence complementarities of the target amplicons. To improve the reproducibility and sensitivity of the current signal, issues such as electrode surface cleaning, probe immobilization, and target hybridization are addressed. Factors affecting hybridization efficiency including the length and binding region of the target amplicon are discussed. Using our approach, differentiation of Chinese herbal species Fritillaria (F. thunbergii and F. cirrhosa) based on the 16-mer unique sequences in the spacer region of the 5S-rRNA is demonstrated. The ability to detect PCR products using a nonoptical electrochemical detection technique is an important step toward the realization of portable biomicrodevices for on-spot bacterial and viral detections.