Premium
Molecular biology of aromatic plants and spices. A review.
Author(s) -
Trindade Helena
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
flavour and fragrance journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.393
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1099-1026
pISSN - 0882-5734
DOI - 10.1002/ffj.1974
Subject(s) - genomics , computational biology , aromatic plants , chemistry , plant metabolism , proteomics , aroma , molecular marker , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , botany , biochemistry , genome , gene , food science , rna
In recent years, molecular tools have been used to help to elucidate some aspects of genetic diversity in aromatic species, the genetic relationships between different cultivars and comparisons of molecular marker analysis to the chemical composition of plants. In this review, an explanation of the most important techniques involving molecular markers is given. A literature survey on molecular markers is presented, with some examples from aromatic plants and spices. However, understanding what controls flavour and aroma production in plants is not an easy task to accomplish. Several aspects of plant secondary metabolism, in particular volatiles production in aromatic plants, are still unknown. The route from genomics to proteomics is not well documented, although some research with model plants has already been performed. To address the question of the synthesis of volatiles, two different approaches are possible and summarized in this review: first, the biochemical and genetic approach; and second, approaches involving functional genomics. Finally, a brief survey of bioinformatics resources is presented. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.