Scientists find link between key plant amino acid and essential hormones
Tuesday, April 14, 2020 - 08:02
in Biology & Nature
Purdue University scientists Natalia Dudareva and Joseph Lynch have been searching for a way to increase a plant's production of phenylalanine, a compound important for plant survival and used by humans in flavors, fragrances, biofuels, insecticides and pharmaceuticals. Their work led to discovery last year of a previously unknown metabolic pathway that they thought could be engineered to allow plants to produce more phenylalanine than they do on their own.