# Biosynthesis of marine terpenoid natural products

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · 2023 · $503,990

## Abstract

Project Summary / Abstract
Natural product leads from marine life continue to inspire new drugs, with nine approved for clinical use since
2010. A historical challenge with developing marine organism-derived bioactive chemicals has been one of
limited supply. Often, natural drug leads are isolated from rare or environmentally sensitive marine invertebrates
and algae, which challenges the pre-clinical evaluation of promising candidates when demands outweigh natural
supplies. Some terrestrial plant-derived drugs can now be produced in genetically engineered microbial cell
factories, an approach that would be attractive for marine-derived molecules. However, the biosynthetic
machinery responsible for the biosynthesis of bioactive natural products in marine animals and algae is largely
unknown. Until now. We have discovered and validated the first steps of biosynthetic pathways in corals and
algae that lead to over 6,000 terpenoids, including the anti-inflammatory pseudopterosin and anticancer
halomon. We propose a multidisciplinary project to investigate the molecular basis of terpenoid diversification in
marine eukaryotes that harbor terpenoids with promising biological properties. Significant outcomes of this
research project will include a new paradigm for terpenoid biosynthetic logic in marine eukaryotes, and the
application of this basic knowledge toward the microbial production of marine animal and algal molecules. We
propose three specific aims, namely: 1) To develop a marine eukaryotic genome mining platform for algae and
corals; 2) To functionally characterize marine eukaryotic terpene synthases for high yield terpene production;
and 3) To discover and characterize terpene tailoring enzymes (halogenation/oxygenation) associated with
bioactive coral and algal natural products.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10737210
- **Project number:** 1R01GM146224-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
- **Principal Investigator:** GEOFFREY A CHANG
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $503,990
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2023-08-01 → 2027-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10737210

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10737210, Biosynthesis of marine terpenoid natural products (1R01GM146224-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10737210. Licensed CC0.

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