When MSU biochemistry and molecular biology professor Robert Last identified two new genes and enzymes in the tomato plant, his view of the vegetable was forever changed.
“It is almost like discovering one of your best friends really isn’t what you thought he or she was,” Last said. “This compound is fundamentally different than was thought.”
After about three years of research, Last and MSU graduate student Anthony Schilmiller, as well as scientists from the University of Michigan, discovered the new enzymes within the small hair cells on tomato plant stems and leaves. The enzymes, the group found, create monoterpenes, or compounds that create the scent in tomato leaves and, if altered, could be used to repel insects from tomato plants.
“We were working with these tomatoes’ trichomes, these hairs on the surface of the tomato (stem),” Schilmiller said. “We were trying to understand the chemistry, what type of chemicals are made and stored in these specialized cells, these hairs, and what we found is essentially a new way of making monoterpenes.”
The findings, published in the May 25 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, contradict previous thoughts about these compounds and could lead to new techniques for plant pest protection, Last said.
“These little hair cells are thought to be important in protecting the plants from insects and other environmental hazards.” Last said. “By understanding how plants make these compounds, we might be able to engineer or breed plants to be more resistant to insects.”
The research focused on how plants make compounds that are important to them. The findings were unexpected, Last said.
“This discovery shows that there have been changes in the structure of these two enzymes,” Last said. “Evolution has caused changes to enzymes and they now work slightly but significantly different then we thought.”
The research, supported by the National Science Foundation and the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, is very basic and the application of the discovery will develop much further in the future, said Jamie DePolo, spokesperson for the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.
“It may then allow people to figure out the reason a tomato leaf smells the way it does and why that helps either repel or attract certain insects,” DePolo said. “It has to start with this basic understanding of how the plant cells function.”
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