The tip of the trichome: evolution of metabolic novelty in tomato and across the Solanaeae
Robert L. Last PhD
Barnett Rosenberg Professor
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824，USA
Biography：Prof. Last received his B.S. degree in Chemistry Department from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1980; In 1986, he received Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA; He started his independent research career in Cornell University in 1989 and promoted to tenured there. He moved to Michigan State University in 2004. In 2017, he was elected as president of American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB).
Abstract：Research in the Last group focuses on specialized metabolism in glandular trichomes of tomato and other plants in the Solanaceae. Acylsugars – relatively simple metabolites typically composed of sucrose or glucose and C2 to C12 acylesters – are produced in the tip cell of the long hairs of domesticated and wild tomato. Despite being derived from simple chemical building blocks, tremendous variation in acylsugar structures is observed within and across species. Some of the changes in products and enzymatic activities have occurred over remarkably short evolutionary timeframes. The talk will describe our results documenting ‘recruitment’ of enzymes of central metabolism to acylsugar biosynthesis, as well as studies of BAHD acyltransferase evolution. I will emphasize how comparative biochemistry led to insights into how gene duplication, neofunctionalization and gene loss contributed to the impressive acylsugar diversity observed in domesticated and wild tomato species. Work towards understanding the evolutionary history of this metabolic network over tens of millions of years of evolution of the Solanaceae will be described.
Time: Mar. 14th, 2018, 16:00-17:30
Venue: New Biology Building, Room 143
Host: Dr. Qiao Zhao
举办单位：生命科学联合中心
