FOOD CROPS PROVIDE THE ESSENTIAL MICRONUTRIENTS NEEDED IN THE HUMAN DIET THROUGH PRODUCTION OF MINERALS AND VITAMINS. ADDITIONALLY, PLANTS PRODUCE THOUSANDS OF SPECIALIZED METABOLITES, MANY OF WHICH HAVE HUMAN HEALTH BENEFITS. THE ERICACEAE FAMILY CONTAINS SEVERAL ECONOMICALLY IMPORTANT FRUIT CROPS THAT PRODUCE DIVERSE NATURAL PRODUCTS, INCLUDING BLUEBERRY AND CRANBERRY. CULTIVATED BLUEBERRY HAS SEEN AN ANNUAL INCREASE IN MARKET SIZE SINCE 2000, WITH RISING POPULARITY DUE TO THE OVERALL SWEET FRUIT FLAVOR AND CONSUMER PERCEIVED LEVELS OF KNOWN HEALTH-PROMOTING COMPOUNDS. BLUEBERRIES ALSO PRODUCE IRIDOID COMPOUNDS, WHICH ARE POTENT NATURAL PRODUCTS WITH HUMAN HEALTH BENEFITS. DESPITE THESE KNOWN PROPERTIES, LITTLE WORK HAS BEEN DONE TO FULLY UNDERSTAND THE GENETIC BASIS OF IRIDOID BIOSYNTHESIS IN CULTIVATED BLUEBERRY. THIS NEW INVESTIGATOR SEED GRANT AIMS TO OBTAIN DATA TO IDENTIFY CORE IRIDOID BIOSYNTHETIC GENES IN BLUEBERRY. A MULTI-FACETED APPROACH INCORPORATING TRANSCRIPTOMIC, GENOMIC AND METABOLOMIC DATA WILL BE USED TO ELUCIDATE GENES INVOLVED IN THE BIOSYNTHESIS OF THE IRIDOID GLYCOSIDE MONOTROPEIN IN BLUEBERRY. THE OBJECTIVES OF THE PROPOSAL ARE: 1) IDENTIFY IRIDOID BIOSYNTHETIC PATHWAY GENES IN BLUEBERRY USING TRANSCRIPTOMIC, ORTHOLOGY, CO-EXPRESSION AND GENOME SEQUENCING ANALYSIS, AND 2) VALIDATE THE COMPUTATIONALLY PREDICTED GENE TARGETS THROUGH FUNCTIONAL ENZYME CHARACTERIZATION. THIS WORK LEVERAGES THE WITHIN-SPECIES GENOTYPIC AND PHENOTYPIC DIVERSITY IN BLUEBERRY IRIDOID PRODUCTION TO UNDERSTAND THE GENETIC BASIS OF NATURAL PRODUCT BIOSYNTHESIS IN THIS ECONOMICALLY IMPORTANT CROP. OUTCOMES FROM THIS PROPOSAL WILL SERVE AS A PLATFORM TO MORE FULLY UNDERSTAND IRIDOID PRODUCTION IN BLUEBERRY AND CAN TRANSLATE INTO THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW BLUEBERRY VARIETIES WITH ENHANCED HUMAN HEALTH BENEFITS.