PBI 293 - Postharvest Biology Seminar

Spring Quarter 2007

CRN 49433

Parsons 111, Thursdays from 12:10 to 1:00

(Instructor in charge: John Labavitch)


Program Description

The theme for this quarter will be "My Favorite Metabolite". In this era of "omics", research approaches that involve the characterization of collections of metabolites isolated from plant tissues are becoming more common. We are not going to look at collections of metabolites in the Spring. Rather, we will focus our attention on individual metabolites or collections of similar molecules that are of general interest in postharvest biology. Each week, the speaker(s) will discuss a favorite metabolite. Each session will include:

• Identification of the metabolite, including why we should care about it
  
• A brief discussion of the current knowledge of its synthetic pathway; including info about key genes and enzymes involved. The metabolite does not have to be the end product of a pathway. It could be a key intermediate or be at a crucial branch point, etc.
  
• Description of how the metabolite is analyzed
  
• Presentation of a recent paper related to the metabolite. The paper does not have to have a strictly postharvest theme. The idea is to broaden perspectives about the molecules in question.

Several favorite metabolites have been nominated by a select panel of metabolitophiles. These selections are: resveratrol, ascorbic acid, pectin-derived oligosaccharides, a-tomatine, w-3-fatty acids, jasmonic acid, chalcone, S-adenosyl methionine (but not in relationship to ethylene), fructose-1,6-bisphosphate, aflatoxin and tocopherols. However, speakers may select their own favorites (subject to approval by the management).

March 29: Organizational meeting - selection of speakers and metabolites
April 5: No session. This allows early presenters time to prepare
April 12:
April 19:
April 26:
May 3:
May 10:
May 17:
May 24:
May 31: