Kyung Hee University · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Professor Sun-Hwa Ha's research lab specializes in plant metabolic engineering, with a primary focus on the biosynthesis and regulation of carotenoids and anthocyanins in crops. The lab employs advanced genetic and molecular tools—including transgene expression systems, genome editing (especially CRISPR), and subcellular targeting strategies—to enhance nutritional quality and pigmentation in staple and horticultural crops. Key research directions include optimizing metabolic pathways in rice, soybean, and pepper through synthetic gene constructs and precise genome editing, as well as investigating subcellular organelle-specific targeting of enzymes to plastoglobules and chloroplasts.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Ripe pepper (Capsicum sp.) fruits can display a range of colours from white to deep red. To understand better the regulatory mechanisms of the carotenoid biosynthetic pathways that underlie these ripening colours, Capsicum varieties that show seven different fully ripe colour types were analysed. The levels and composition of the carotenoid accumulation in these samples at different stages of ripening were measured, and the resulting data were analysed in conjunction with the expression patterns
Coordination of multiple transgenes is essential for metabolic engineering of biosynthetic pathways. Here, we report the utilization of two bicistronic systems involving the 2A sequence from the foot-and-mouth disease virus and the internal ribosome entry site (IRES) sequence from the crucifer-infecting tobamovirus to the biosynthesis of carotenoids in rice endosperm. Two carotenoid biosynthetic genes, phytoene synthase (Psy) from Capsicum and carotene desaturase (CrtI) from Pantoea, were linked
Plastoglobules (PGs) are thylakoid membrane microdomains within plastids that are known as specialized locations of carotenogenesis. Three rice phytoene synthase proteins (OsPSYs) involved in carotenoid biosynthesis have been identified. Here, the N-terminal 80-amino-acid portion of OsPSY2 (PTp) was demonstrated to be a chloroplast-targeting peptide by displaying cytosolic localization of OsPSY2(ΔPTp):mCherry in rice protoplast, in contrast to chloroplast localization of OsPSY2:mCherry in a punc
The carotenoid biosynthetic pathway was genetically manipulated using the recombinant PAC (Phytoene synthase-2A-Carotene desaturase) gene in Korean soybean (Glycine max L. cv. Kwangan). The PAC gene was linked to either the β-conglycinin (β) or CaMV-35S (35S) promoter to generate β-PAC and 35S-PAC constructs, respectively. A total of 37 transgenic lines (19 for β-PAC and 18 for 35S-PAC) were obtained through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation using the modified half-seed method. The multi-cop
Genome-editing tools including meganucleases, zinc finger nucleases, transcription activator-like effector nucleases and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) system have been applied to improve the quality of staple, oilseed, and horticultural crops with great accuracy and efficiency compared to conventional breeding. In particular, the CRISPR method has proven to be a feasible, cost-effective and versatile tool allowing precise and efficient editing of plant genome
The MYB-bHLH-WDR (MBW) complex activates anthocyanin biosynthesis through the transcriptional regulation. RsMYB1 has been identified as a key player in anthocyanin biosynthesis in red radish (<i>Raphanus sativus</i> L.), but its partner bHLH transcription factor (TF) remains to be determined. In this study, we isolated a bHLH TF gene from red radish. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that this gene belongs to the TT8 clade of the IIIF subgroup of bHLH TFs, and we thus designated this gene <i>RsTT8
Carotenoids of staple food crops have a high nutritional value as provitamin A components in the daily diet. To increase the levels of carotenoids, inhibition of carotenoid-cleavage dioxygenases (CCDs), which degrade carotenoids, has been considered as a promising target in crop biotechnology. In this study, suppression of the OsCCD1, OsCCD4a, and OsCCD4b genes using RNAi was verified in transgenic rice plants by quantitative RT-PCR and small RNA detection. Leaf carotenoids were significantly in
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