title: Predictive metabolic engineering in plants: still full of surprises.
abstract: In an important recent paper Kristensen et al. address a question of fundamental importance in plant biotechnology: how are metabolic pathways affected upon introduction of a transgene? Analysis of the transcriptome and metabolome of Arabidopsis thaliana engineered to produce the cyanogenic glucoside dhurrin demonstrated that plants can be tailored in a rational manner with marginal inadvertent effects.
authors.affiliation: Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzenbiochemie, Weinberg 3, 06120 Halle/Saale, Germany. kutch@ipb.halle.de
authors.forename: Toni M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Kutchan
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D009570:Nitriles / Q000378:metabolism*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000378:metabolism*; D015202:Protein Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D045868:Sorghum / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D009570:Nitriles; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System; C011220:dhurrin