Gene find could lead to healthier food, better biofuel
production (11/23/2010) Purdue University scientists have found
the last undiscovered gene responsible for the production of the
amino acid phenylalanine, a discovery that could lead to
processes to control the amino acid to boost plants' nutritional
values and produce better biofuel feedstocks. Natalia Dudareva,
a distinguished professor of horticulture, and Hiroshi Maeda, a
postdoctoral researcher in Dudareva's laboratory, determined
that the gene is one of 10 responsible for phenylalanine
production in plants. Understanding how the amino acid is
produced could provide a strategy to increase or reduce that
production. Phenylalanine is important for plant protein
synthesis and for the production of flower scent, anti-oxidants
and lignin, a principal plant cell wall component that helps
plants stand upright and acts as a barrier in the production of
cellulosic ethanol. It is one of the few essential amino acids
that humans and animals cannot synthesize, s