Home BBV

In this study published in Phytochemistry, we explore how matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) and desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) can be used in the investigation of a proposed biosynthetic pathway by localizing reserpine and the theoretical intermediates of it

A spotlight in Trends in genetics about the convergent evolution for antibiotic biosynthesis in bacteria and animals.

A research performed in collaboration with Agricultural University of Athens on new pioneer practice to enrich polyphenols in grape by the application of biostimulants on grapevines

Read our collaborative article with Pr Queiroz from the University of Porto and Pr Geros from the University of Minho, (Portugal). Climate changes are speeding up the maturation of grapes, but warmer temperatures often uncouple technical and phenolic maturity. We tested the efficacy of crop forcing in delaying the maturation of cv. ‘Touriga Nacional’ vines of the Douro Region, and their impacts on plant performance, berry quality attributes and metabolome

This updated version should ease evolutionary studies leading to a better understanding of MIA biosynthetic pathway evolution.

Read our new study with Pr Chao SUN’s group, on single-cell RNA sequencing of Catharanthus roseus leaf published in Nature plants!

A collaborative article with the laboratory Synthese et Isolement de Molecules Bioactives (SIMBA), Tours.We validated the traditional application of C. sieberiana root bark as a dewormer. We determined the metabolic composition of the extracts by UPLC-MS/MS.

Published in Nature Plants, this review focuses on translational, transcriptional, epigenetic and chromatin-based regulation and evolution of specialized metabolism genes, a new and forefront research filed. We extrapolate to medicinal plants that synthetize rare molecules and also discuss how this new knowledge could help in improving strategies to produce useful plant-derived pharmaceuticals.

Through this commentary article, we highlight the outstanding work of the Zhou’s group which recently describes a distinct approach relying on the efficient recycling of enzyme co-factors in yeast to fulfill the synthesis of caffeic acid (CaA) and ferulic acid (FA), two precursors of podophyllotoxin. We discuss how the cofactor recycling approach will undoubtedly pave the way for future high titer production of valuable natural products in yeast.

In our new article published in Genome Biology and Evolution, we provide the first annotated reference genome of a Voacanga species that, together with the previously published MIA-producing plant genomes, will help understand evolution and diversification of MIA in plants as well as identifying MIA biosynthetic genes to enrich the molecular MIA toolbox used for production of MIA in heterologous hosts.

The Vinca minor genome finally assembled! Our new publication in G3!The Vinca minor plant synthesizes monoterpene indole alkaloids (MIAs), which are a class of specialized metabolites displaying a wide range of bioactive- and pharmacologically important properties. V. minor mainly accumulates vincamine, which is commercially used as a nootropic. Using a combination of Oxford Nanopore Technologies long read- and Illumina short-read sequencing, a 679,098 Mb V. minor genome was assembled into 296 scaffolds with an N50 scaffold length of 6 Mb, and encoding 29,624 genes.