Discovery of fundamental plant chemical pathway likely to support production of valuable compounds [Registered]
A fundamental chemical pathway that all plants use to create an essential amino acid needed by all animals to make proteins has now been traced to two groups of ancient bacteria. The pathway is also known for making hundreds of chemicals, including a compound that makes wood strong and the pigments that make red wine red. “We have been trying to unravel the source of the phenylalanine amino acid for some time,” says Hiroshi Maeda, an assistant professor of botany at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Plants use this pathway to make natural products that are vital to plants and also