Research in plant metabolism has advanced rapidly since the advent of molecular biology, and has accelerated with the arrival of the omics/big data era. Engineering based on this research can contribute to the global bioeconomy by developing new drugs, generating green production platforms for feedstocks and fuels, and enhancing food supplies. Synthetic biology can greatly increase this potential, but its concepts and methods are not yet widespread in plant science. In essence, synthetic biology extends the metabolic engineering toolbox by adopting design concepts such as standardization and modularity, by devising non- natural pathways and products, and by exploiting computational simulation and DNA writing. Synthetic biology thus requires cross-disciplinary exchange. The Plant Metabolic Engineering GRC will bring together leading plant and microbial engineers, synthetic biologists, computational biochemists, and funding agency scientists. The program aims to: i) highlight how synthetic biology can repurpose metabolism; ii) present cutting-edge engineering and discovery research from the health and biobased economy sectors; iii) consider plants versus microbes as ?chassis organisms?; and iv) discuss synthetic biology-enabled engineering from industry and government perspectives. Successful plant metabolic engineering requires input from researchers across a wide variety of fields. This GRC provides one of the only forums interactions among these diverse groups of scientists. Complementing the scientific mission is the GRC's commitment to engaging the next generation of scientists. As in the past, a two-day Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) for graduate students and postdoctorals will precede this GRC. The GRS allows graduate students and postdoctorals to present their work to peers, and to openly discuss current issues in the field and future directions. This combination allows GRS participants to establish ownership of a field, to form a community, and to organize and run a meeting venue of early career scientists. GRS participants will be expected to stay for the GRC, further enhancing the educational component of this conference. In addition, roughly 1/3 of the speakers in the 2017 GRC will either be junior faculty members presenting in programmed sessions or be graduate students, postdoctorals, or junior faculty speaking in a special 'rising stars' session.
Relevance to public health. Plants produce a diverse array of chemicals, known as ?phytochemicals?, ?natural products?, ?secondary metabolites? or ?specialized metabolites?. Many of these natural products have pharmaceutical and/or nutritional properties and form the basis of many of the drugs and nutritional supplements in use today. Recent advances in genetics, genomics, systems biology, biochemistry and cell biology are leading to an unparalleled understanding of the components of plant systems, allowing us to make more ambitious goals for plant metabolic engineering to satisfy increasing demands for bio-based products critical for human health and nutrition.
