Guest Editors
Alisdair R. Fernie
Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Department of Molecular Physiology
Dr. Alisdair Fernie is a group leader in the Department of Molecular Physiology at the Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology and an Honorary Professor at the University of Potsdam. His research interests include mitochondrial energy metabolism, genetics underpinning metabolic regulation, spatiotemporal regulation of metabolism, metabolomics, genomics, and metabolic engineering. He has authored over 700 Web-of Science indexed publications.
Weiwei Wen
Huazhong Agricultural University, College of Horticulture and Forestry Sciences, Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plant Biology (MOE)
Weiwei Wen received her PhD degree (in crop genetics and breeding) from Huazhong Agricultural University in 2009. From 2009 to 2011, Dr. Wen was appointed as the consultant of Centor Internacional de Mejoramientode Maiz y Trigo (CIMMYT), and her research was mainly focused on the preservation, utilization, and molecular breeding of maize germplasm resources. Between 2011 and 2016, she conducted her postdoctoral research at the College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, and Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, mainly focusing on plant genetics and metabolomics. She now serves as a professor at the College of Horticultural and Forest Sciences, Huazhong Agricultural University, with her research oriented towards the genetics and evolution of plant metabolic diversity, dissection of metabolic pathways using genetics and systems biological tools, and plant germplasm and genetic improvement.
Collection Overview
Plants possess remarkable chemical diversity. A plant’s chemical composition not only provides the nutrients necessary for its development but also produces a multitude of compounds that enable adaptation to changing environments. These chemical constituents also offer valuable resources for human use, including food, fuel, and various industrial applications. Consequently, identifying plant chemical compositions, elucidating their biosynthetic and degradative pathways, and enhancing the production of beneficial natural products are of immense societal importance.
This Methods Collection aims to showcase a broad range of techniques developed and applied to study plant chemical compositions, dissect their biosynthetic pathways, and perform in vivo and in vitro synthesis of valuable plant natural products. Methods featured in this collection include, but are not limited to, the identification and quantification of plant chemical constituents; genomic and bioinformatic tools for unraveling the genetic and biochemical bases of natural variation in plant chemistry; and genetic manipulation or advanced breeding strategies to enhance beneficial compounds.
Articles
