Maize is the leading crop worldwide in terms of both planting area and total yields, but environmental stresses cause significant losses in productivity. Phenylpropanoid compounds play an important role in plant stress resistance; however, the mechanism of their synthesis is not fully understood, especially in regard to the expression and regulation of key genes. Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PA...

The phenylpropanoid pathway serves as a rich source of metabolites in plants, being required for the biosynthesis of lignin, and serving as a starting point for the production of many other important compounds, such as the flavonoids, coumarins, and lignans. In spite of the fact that the phenylpropanoids and their derivatives are sometimes classified as secondary metabolites, their relevance to...

Floral scent, which is determined by a complex mixture of low molecular weight volatile molecules, plays a major role in the plant's life cycle. Phenylpropanoid volatiles are the main determinants of floral scent in petunia (Petunia hybrida). A screen using virus-induced gene silencing for regulators of scent production in petunia flowers yielded a novel R2R3-MYB-like regulatory factor of pheny...

Levels of indolic and phenylpropanoid secondary metabolites in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) leaves undergo rapid and drastic changes during pathogen defense, yet little is known about this process in roots. Using Arabidopsis wild-type and mutant root cultures as an experimental system, and the root-pathogenic oomycete, Pythium sylvaticum, for infections, we analyzed the aromatic metabolit...

Cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450s) mediate a wide range of oxidative reactions involved in the biosynthesis of phenylpropanoids, terpenes, and alkaloids. Two pea (Pisum sativum) P450 cDNAs (CYP73A9v1, encoding trans-cinnamic acid hydroxylase [t-CAH] in the core phenylpropanoid pathway, and CYP82A1v1, possibly encoding an activity in a late branch of the phenylpropanoid pathway) have previou...

The biosynthetic costs of phenylpropanoid-derived condensed tannins (CTs) and phenolic glycosides (PGs) are substantial. However, despite reports of negative correlations between leaf phenolic content and growth of Populus, it remains unclear whether or how foliar biosynthesis of CT/PG interferes with tree growth. A comparison was made of carbon partitioning and N content in developmentally sta...

Lignin and polyphenols are important cellular components biosynthesized through phenylpropanoid pathway. Phenylpropanoid pathway in plants is regulated by some important transcription factors including R2R3 MYB transcription factors. In this study, we report the cloning and functional characterization of a banana R2R3-MYB transcription factor (MusaMYB31) by overexpression in transgenic banana p...