# Equipment Supplement - Biosynthesis of marine terpenoid natural products

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · 2024 · $86,786

## Abstract

Project Summary
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:** 11037161
- **Project number:** 3R01GM146224-02S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
- **Principal Investigator:** GEOFFREY A CHANG
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $86,786
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2023-08-01 → 2027-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11037161

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11037161, Equipment Supplement - Biosynthesis of marine terpenoid natural products (3R01GM146224-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11037161. Licensed CC0.

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