Metabolic engineering of volatile production

Plants are capable of producing and emitting many different volatiles. We focus on Green Leaf Volatiles (GLVs), benzenoids/phenylpropanoids and terpenoids. We are not only interested in their biosynthesis but also in where the synthesis of these volatiles takes place (cells and organelles) and how they and their precursors are transported. Most of this work deals with the biochemistry and molecular biology of plant volatiles that are emitted from vegetative tissues during pathogen- or herbivore-induced stress and the contribution of these volatiles to plant defenses. However, we also focus on floral volatiles in petunia that are mostly involved in attracting pollinators although they are important in deterring florivores too.

The topic of my seminar will focus on the regulation of the biosynthesis of these volatiles and the metabolic engineering of volatile production in plants, for example to make them more resistant to herbivores. I will talk about several transcription factors regulating floral volatile benzenoid/phenylpropanoid production in petunia or terpenoid production in glandular trichomes of tomato and how we modified the headspace of petunia and tomato.