Tomatoes' crystal ball reveals evolutionary secrets
For this study, he focused on a single type of molecule in trichomes -- acylsugars. The secrets Last and a team of MSU scientists found from studying these specialized metabolites open an evolutionary window for the emerging field of plant defense metabolism, insights that could lead to engineering advances for better pest resistance and human medicine. There are an estimated 300,000 species of plants in the world, producing roughly more than a million metabolites. Plants use these molecules to grow, communicate with each other or to defend themselves against pests and disease. Humans benefit from many of these products for food, medicines and industrial uses. Thousands of core metabolites are found in every plant, but hundreds of thousands are more specialized and found only in specific groups of plants. Acylsugars are an example of a group of specialized metabolites found only in the Solanaceae family, which includes tomato and petunia plants. These specialized metabolites hav...