Recent Posts

UGT71L1 in Poplar Connects Salicinoid and Salicylic Acid Metabolism

Gordon et al. report that knock-out of a recently discovered enzyme for salicinoid biosynthesis in poplar leads to changes in salicylic acid and jasmonic acid metabolism and has unexpected effects on growth.. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koac135 By Peter Constabel and Harley Gordon Background:…

Metabolomic selection for enhanced fruit flavor (PNAS)

Breeding for flavor in fruits and vegetables is a dauting task. For several years, scientists have relied on consumer panels and instrumental analysis to make judgment calls on the flavor phenotype to select for during a breeding process. While these methods are often accurate and reliable, they are…

Carbon flux through photosynthesis and central carbon metabolism show distinct patterns between algae, C3, and C4 plants (Nature Plants)

Photosynthesis is an attractive target for improving crop yields, and tailoring downstream photosynthesis-associated metabolism is a relatively unexplored path for achieving this. Chlorella ohadii is the fastest growing photosynthetic organism identified, has high photosynthetic rates, and can survive…