In contrast to the detailed
knowledge available on the biosynthesis of anthocyanins, very little is known about the
stability and degradation of these pigments in plant tissue. Two of the major research questions
of my group are: How are anthocyanins degraded in plants? What role
does the pigment catabolism process play in the final determination of pigment
concentration in flower foliage or fruit?
Recently
, we expanded our studies to interactions between anthocyanin and other phenyproanoid pathways, in particular the benzenoid pathway responsible for
production of fragrant compounds. We are currently studying the metabolic and
genomic effect of increased phenylalanine concentrations in genetically
engineered petunia, lisianthus and in a grape cell culture.