Dean DellaPenna Research Interests
We are in the midst of a golden period for research into plant metabolism. The ongoing development and integration of various omics-technologies with established biochemical, molecular and genetic approaches have created a “perfect storm” for research into plant metabolism in which we can computationally, genetically and biologically dissect pathways between organisms, genomes and across evolutionary time. Historically, the most recent comparable period of advancement was during the 1960’s and 70’s, when the application of powerful new tools, radiolabels, allowed the pathways for much of plant metabolism as we now know it to be proposed. It is my firm belief we are in the midst of what will be considered in retrospect an analogous period of incredible advancement in our fundamental understanding of plant metabolism at the individual gene, system and genome levels. I have purposely positioned my laboratory and research programs to be at the front of this basic science wave and to apply the knowledge obtained to address serious, longstanding problems on the planet.
A central theme of my research is to further understand biochemical processes of importance to basic plant biology, agriculture and the human condition. The research topics and programs in my laboratory are centered in a general sense on the metabolism and function of plastids, as they are to my mind what make plants unique. Current research areas include the synthesis and function of the plastid- localized isoprenoids tocopherols and carotenoids, the use of natural variation to understand the genetic and biochemical basis of mineral bioavailability from plant foods, the regulation and integration of primary plant metabolism, and systems level analysis of plastid function. While most of my core research continues to be performed in model systems such as Arabidopsis, Synechocystis PCC6803 and E. coli, because the pathways and compounds we study are conserved across plants there is direct relevance to all photosynthetic organisms, including agricultural crops. As a result, during the past several years I have been engaged in a very broad sense in furthering the profile and funding of research at the interface of plant biochemistry and human health.