ERC Starting Grant · 2024
Reconstruction of specialized metabolite evolution through molecular switches
Novel traits can provide fitness advantages and drive evolution. New specialised metabolites are traits that arose in different plant lineages, and even replaced existing metabolites. Why, and how almost universal metabolic pathways can be replaced in entire groups of species by biochemically distinct pathways without persistence of any species producing both metabolites remains unknown. Components of gene regulatory networks that control such pathways might act as regulatory switches that flip between pathways. The replacement of the widely conserved red pigment anthocyanin by the biochemically distinct betalains offers a unique opportunity to understand the integration of novel traits…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.