Recent Posts

Novel loci underlie natural variation in vitamin E levels in maize grain

Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol and related tocochromanol compounds) is a lipid-soluble antioxidant that contributes to numerous cellular activities and confers protection against many diseases, from cancer to cardiovascular disease. The main sources of vitamin E for humans are plant oils, but most crop…

Review: Promiscuity, impersonation and accommodation: Evolution of plant specialized metabolism ($)

The huge set of chemical pathways beyond the conserved primary metabolic network is described as specialized metabolism (formerly known as secondary metabolism). The diversity of specialized metabolites is due to recent evolutionary innovations in enzyme function, as reviewed by Leong and Last. Key processes…

Review: Senescence and nitrogen use efficiency in perennial grasses for forage and biofuel production ($)

Much of our understanding of the molecular processes of senescence and nutrient remobilization comes from annual plants. Yang and Udvardi explore how these processes take place in perennial grasses including important biofuel grasses switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and miscanthus (Miscanthus×giganteus).…

Medicine is not health care, food is health care: Plant metabolic engineering, diet and human health

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A diet consisting of a wide range of plant matter is optimal for human heath, but due to various historical and social factors (including the relatively high cost of fresh fruit and vegetables), many people don’t get the nutrients they need. Biofortification of staple foods like rice through breeding…

Using Metabolism to Improve Maize Breeding

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Cañas et al. study the relationships between maize leaf metabolism and grain yield to identify putative markers for breeding http://www.plantcell.org/content/29/5/919 By Rafael A. Cañas, Peter J. Lea and Bertrand Hirel In crops, several metabolic pathways are involved in the control of biomass…

Convergent evolution of sesterterpene biosynthetic repertoire in the Brassicaceae

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Sesterterpenes are a family of natural products; some (derived from corals and fungi) have been shown to have antitumor, antimicrobial and antiinflamatrory activities. Huang et al. used genome mining to identify sesterterpene biosynthetic genes in the Brassicaceae. The first committed step is carried…

Synthesis of the anti-HIV compound daurichromenic 1 acid in Rhododendron dauricum

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Daurichromenic 1 acid (DCA) is a meroterpenoid with anti-HIV properties that is produced in young leaves of Rhododendron dauicum. In this study, Iijimi et al. identified a DCA synthase gene. Starting with their previous observations that this enzyme is a stereoselective meroterpenoid oxidocyclase, similar…

Squeezing oil out of plants and into your gas tank: it's hard

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Here is a summary of new research published in The Plant Cell, written by Martin Vorel and published on the Michigan State University website. Sometimes, when a science experiment doesn’t work out, unexpected opportunities open up. That’s what Yang Yang and the Benning lab have found…

Review: How does a plant orchestrate defense in time and space? Using glucosinolates in Arabidopsis as case study

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Plants, like human societies, must live with the inherent conflict between investing in defense and investing in growth and infrastructure. Burrow and Halkier provide an interesting and highly readable overview of the strategies by which Arabidopsis optimizes the production and distribution of glucosinolates,…