R. Verpoorte – författare

Plant secondary metabolism is an economically important source of fine chemicals, such as drugs, insecticides, dyes, flavours, and fragrances. Moreover, important traits of plants such as taste, flavour, smell, colour, or resistance against pests and diseases are also related to secondary metabolites. The genetic modification of plants is feasible nowadays. What does the possibility of engineering plant secondary metabolite pathways mean? In this book, a general introduction is given on plant secondary metabolism, followed by an overview of the possible approaches that could be used to alter secondary metabolite pathways. In a series of chapters from various authorities in the field, an overview is given of the state-of-the art for important groups of secondary metabolites. No books have been published on this topic so far. This book will thus be a unique source of information for all those involved with plants as chemical factories of fine chemicals and those involved with the quality of food and ornamental plants. It shouldbe useful in teaching graduate courses in the field of metabolic engineering in plants.

In this volume, the effect of nutritional habits and wine consumption on ageing and the main degenerative diseases (cardiovascular, cancer, Alzheimer's, etc.) are considered through the most relevant epidemiological and pharmacological studies. Newly isolated wine polyphenols and tannins are presented and their structures and in vitro biological properties are discussed that could strongly support the hypotheses that those molecules could insure beneficial health effects. This work should be of particular interest to people involved in problems of public health, but also in the wine industry or in wine making, as well as to physicians who are concerned by the difficult question of ageing and its related chronic diseases.

R. VERPOORTE Division of Pharmacognosy, section Metabolomics, IBL, Leiden University PO Box 9502, 2300RA Leiden, The Netherlands, Email: VERPOORT@LACDR.LeidenUniv.NL In the past years the interest in plant secondary has increased rapidly. Three major reasons can be mentioned for this. First because plants are a major source for the production of medicines and the development of novel medicines; second because plants contain health promoting secondary metabolites, third because of the interest in the resistance of plants against pests and diseases in which the secondary metabolism plays a crucial role. Seven years ago we edited a book (Verpoorte and Alfermann 2000) on the engineering of plant secondary metabolism. A general overview was given of plant secondary metabolism, and the strategies one could envisage for engineering plant secondary metabolite pathways. Furthermore, a number of examples were presented describing the state-of-the-art of engineering plant secondary metabolism. Now we have again compiled a series of papers on the engineering of plant metabolism.

R. VERPOORTE Division of Pharmacognosy, section Metabolomics, IBL, Leiden University PO Box 9502, 2300RA Leiden, The Netherlands, Email: VERPOORT@LACDR.LeidenUniv.NL In the past years the interest in plant secondary has increased rapidly. Three major reasons can be mentioned for this. First because plants are a major source for the production of medicines and the development of novel medicines; second because plants contain health promoting secondary metabolites, third because of the interest in the resistance of plants against pests and diseases in which the secondary metabolism plays a crucial role. Seven years ago we edited a book (Verpoorte and Alfermann 2000) on the engineering of plant secondary metabolism. A general overview was given of plant secondary metabolism, and the strategies one could envisage for engineering plant secondary metabolite pathways. Furthermore, a number of examples were presented describing the state-of-the-art of engineering plant secondary metabolism. Now we have again compiled a series of papers on the engineering of plant metabolism.

The papers assembled in this volume were originally presented at the joint meeting of the Phytochemical Society of North America and Phytochemical Society of Europe held in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands, April 20-23, 1997. The meeting was organized by an international panel of scientists from both societies. The symposium from which the related contributions on phytochemi- cal signaling and plant-microbe interactions were taken was entitled "Commu- nication of Plants with the Environment." The chapters included in this volume cover traditional areas in plant chemical ecology, as well as address fundamental issues on the involvemerrt ofphytochemicals in intra- and interspecific signaling, applications of the knowledge gained from such studies, and evolutionary origins. T.he term microbes is used here in the broadest sense to encompass bacteria, fungi, and nematodes. An array of plant and fungal metabolites ranging from simple phenolics, salicylic acid, hydroxamic acids, flavonoids, polysaccharides, fatty acid derived octadecanoids, to trichothecenes and perylenequinones are discussed.A number of important themes emerge: i) the multifunctional roles of many phytochemi- cals, ii) the power of molecular techniques for studying biosynthetic pathways and gene function, iii) the central role of natural products in pathogenesis and disease resistance, and iv) the identification of promising areas for future research and development of applications. The opening chapter by Osbourn et al. discusses the emerging role and significance of saponins as antifungal agents, compounds already well-docu- mented as important mediators of plant-insect interactions. McCormick et al.

Plant secondary metabolism is an economically important source of fine chemicals, such as drugs, insecticides, dyes, flavours, and fragrances. Moreover, important traits of plants such as taste, flavour, smell, colour, or resistance against pests and diseases are also related to secondary metabolites. The genetic modification of plants is feasible nowadays. What does the possibility of engineering plant secondary metabolite pathways mean? In this book, firstly a general introduction is given on plant secondary metabolism, followed by an overview of the possible approaches that could be used to alter secondary metabolite pathways. In a series of chapters from various authorities in the field, an overview is given of the state of the art for important groups of secondary metabolites. No books have been published on this topic so far. This book will thus be a unique source of information for all those involved with plants as chemical factories of fine chemicals and those involved with the quality of food and ornamental plants. It will be useful in teaching graduate courses in the field of metabolic engineering in plants.

In this book, the effect of nutritional habits and wine consumption on ageing and the main degenerative diseases (cardiovascular, cancer, Alzheimer's, etc.) are considered through the most relevant epidemiological and pharmacological studies. Newly isolated wine polyphenols and tannins are presented and their structures and in vitro biological properties are discussed that could strongly support the hypotheses that those molecules could insure beneficial health effects. This book will be of particular interest to people involved in problems of public health, but also in the wine industry or in wine making, as well as to physicians who are concerned by the difficult question of ageing and its related chronic diseases.

R. VERPOORTE Division of Pharmacognosy, section Metabolomics, IBL, Leiden University PO Box 9502, 2300RA Leiden, The Netherlands, Email: VERPOORT@LACDR.LeidenUniv.NL In the past years the interest in plant secondary has increased rapidly. Three major reasons can be mentioned for this. First because plants are a major source for the production of medicines and the development of novel medicines; second because plants contain health promoting secondary metabolites, third because of the interest in the resistance of plants against pests and diseases in which the secondary metabolism plays a crucial role. Seven years ago we edited a book (Verpoorte and Alfermann 2000) on the engineering of plant secondary metabolism. A general overview was given of plant secondary metabolism, and the strategies one could envisage for engineering plant secondary metabolite pathways. Furthermore, a number of examples were presented describing the state-of-the-art of engineering plant secondary metabolism. Now we have again compiled a series of papers on the engineering of plant metabolism.

Since 1984 and 1988, when meetings were held on the topic of primary and secondary metabolism of plant cell cultures, there has been a clear shift of the focus of ongoing research. While the cell culture itself and the production of secondary metabolites and the biosynthetic pathways and the activity of enzymes were major topics, now these aspects are linked with genes, i.e. molecular biology becomes more prominent. This state-of-the-art book has contributions on such subjects as fermentation, enzymology of secondary metabolism, catabolism of secondary metabolites, elicitation of pathways and genetic modification of metabolic pathways. It includes contributions on the most recent achievements in the research on among other things tropane and indole alkaloids, phenolics, (iso)flavonoids, terpenes and cardenolides. It is an excellent review of the progress made in the past years and a perspective on the future developments.

Since 1984 and 1988, when meetings were held on the topic of primary and secondary metabolism of plant cell cultures, there has been a clear shift of the focus of ongoing research. While the cell culture itself and the production of secondary metabolites and the biosynthetic pathways and the activity of enzymes were major topics, now these aspects are linked with genes, i.e. molecular biology becomes more prominent. This state-of-the-art book has contributions on such subjects as fermentation, enzymology of secondary metabolism, catabolism of secondary metabolites, elicitation of pathways and genetic modification of metabolic pathways. It includes contributions on the most recent achievements in the research on among other things tropane and indole alkaloids, phenolics, (iso)flavonoids, terpenes and cardenolides. It is an excellent review of the progress made in the past years and a perspective on the future developments.

Plant secondary metabolism is an economically important source of fine chemicals, such as drugs, insecticides, dyes, flavours, and fragrances. Moreover, important traits of plants such as taste, flavour, smell, colour, or resistance against pests and diseases are also related to secondary metabolites. The genetic modification of plants is feasible nowadays. What does the possibility of engineering plant secondary metabolite pathways mean? In this book, firstly a general introduction is given on plant secondary metabolism, followed by an overview of the possible approaches that could be used to alter secondary metabolite pathways. In a series of chapters from various authorities in the field, an overview is given of the state of the art for important groups of secondary metabolites. No books have been published on this topic so far. This book will thus be a unique source of information for all those involved with plants as chemical factories of fine chemicals and those involved with the quality of food and ornamental plants. It will be useful in teaching graduate courses in the field of metabolic engineering in plants.