Jointly published with INRA, Paris. This book covers all aspects of the transfer of nitrogen from the soil and air to a final resting place in the seed protein of a crop plant. It describes the physiological and molecular mechanisms of ammonium and nitrate transport and assimilation, including symbiotic nitrogen fixation by the Rhizobiacea. Amino acid metabolism and nitrogen traffic during plant growth and development and details of protein biosynthesis in the seeds are also extensively covered. Finally, the effects of the application of nitrogen fertilisers on plant growth, crop yield and the environment are discussed. Written by international experts in their field, Plant Nitrogen is essential reading for all plant biochemists, biotechnologists, molecular biologists and physiologists as well as plant breeders, agricultural engineers, agronomists and phytochemists.

In recent years, the role of plant secondary metabolites as protective constituents in the human diet has been a growing area of research. Unlike the traditional vitamins, they are not essential for short-term wellbeing, but there is increasing evidence that modest long-term intakes can have favourable impacts on the incidence of cancers and many chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes, which are occurring in Western populations with increasing frequency. This book covers the latest science on the metabolism and potential health benefits of teas, cocoa, coffee and their extracts in the human diet. From an opening chapter tracing the origins of teas, cocoa and coffee as beverage, the book proceeds to explore the phytochemical content of coffee, cocoa and the various types of tea. The bioavailability of secondary metabolites from each of the beverages is then considered in depth, and related directly to their health benefits. Embracing the full range of tea, coffee and cocoa beverages and products, the book offers the most up-to-date and comprehensive treatment of these increasingly important dietary components. As the only book to bring together the latest information on the biochemistry and health benefits of teas, coffee and cocoa, this book is essential reading for food scientists and technologists involved in the production of tea, coffee and cocoa products. Nutritionists will value the book's health focus, while agricultural scientists working on the cultivation of these crops will prize its scope and depth of detail. It is also an important resource for all those who use functional ingredients in other products, whether they are based in industry or research.

The increase in global population, urbanization and industrialization is resulting in the conversion of cultivated land into wasteland. Providing food from these limited resources to an ever-increasing population is one of the biggest challenges that present agriculturalists and plant scientists are facing. Environmental stresses make this situation even graver. Plants on which mankind is directly or indirectly dependent exhibit various mechanisms for their survival. Adaptability of the plants to changing environment is a matter of concern for plant biologists trying to reach the goal of food security. Despite the induction of several tolerance mechanisms, sensitive plants often fail to withstand these environmental extremes. Using new technological approaches has become essential and imperative. Plant-Environment Interaction: Responses and Approaches to Mitigate Stress throws light on the changing environment and the sustainability of plants under these conditions. It contains the most up-to-date research and comprehensive detailed discussions in plant physiology, climate change, agronomy and forestry, sometimes from a molecular point of view, to convey in-depth understanding of the effects of environmental stress in plants, their responses to the environment, how to mitigate the negative effects and improve yield under stress. This edited volume is written by expert plant biologists from around the world, providing invaluable knowledge to graduate and undergraduate students in plant biochemistry, food chemistry, plant physiology, molecular biology, plant biotechnology, and environmental sciences. This book updates scientists and researchers with the very latest information and sustainable methods used for stress tolerance, which will also be of considerable interest to plant based companies and institutions concerned with the campaign of food security.

Preface 1 Carotenoid-Derived Aroma Compounds: An Introduction 1 2 Analysis of Norisoprenoid Aroma Precursors 20 3 HPLC-MS Analysis of Carotenoid-Derived Aroma Precursors 36 4 CD Spectroscopy as a Powerful Tool for the Stereochemical Assignment of Carotenoid-Derived Aroma Compounds 56 5 Analyzing Carotenoid-Derived Aroma Compounds Using Gas Chromatography-Olfactometry 67 6 Carotenoid Cleavage Enzymes in Animals and Plants 76 7 Identification of [beta]-Damascenone Progenitors and Their Biogenesis in Rose Flowers (Rosa damascena Mill.) 89 8 Production of Aroma Compounds by Enzymatic Cooxidation of Carotenoids 102 9 Thermal Generation of Carotenoid-Derived Compounds 115 10 Carotenoid-Derived Aroma Compounds in Tobacco 131 11 Carotenoid-Derived Aroma Compounds in Tea 145 12 Carotenoid-Derived Aroma Compounds in Flower Scents 162 13 Bound Volatiles in Brown Boronia Flowers (Boronia megastigma) 183 14 C[subscript 13]-Norisoprenoids in the Aroma of Colombian Tropical Fruits 194 15 Carotenoid Degradation Products in Paprika Powder 206 16 Flavor Chemistry of Saffron 220 17 The Formation of [beta]-Damascenone in Wine 241 18 C[subscript 13]-Norisoprenoid Aglycon Composition of Leaves and Grape Berries from Muscat of Alexandria and Shiraz Cultivars 255 19 Effect of Sunlight Exposure on Norisoprenoid Formation in White Riesling Grapes 262 20 The Significance of 1,1,6-Trimethyl-1,2-Dihydronaphthalene in the Production of High Quality Riesling Wines 273 21 Formation of 1,1,6-Trimethyl-1,2-Dihydronaphthalene and Other Norisoprenoids in Wine: Considerations on the Kinetics 285 Author Index 303 Subject Index 304.

Plant secondary metabolites have been a fertile area of chemical investigation for many years, driving the development of both analytical chemistry and of new synthetic reactions and methodologies. The subject is multi-disciplinary with chemists, biochemists and plant scientists all contributing to our current understanding. In recent years there has been an upsurge in interest from other disciplines, related to the realisation that secondary metabolites are dietary components that may have a considerable impact on human health, and to the development of gene technology that permits modulation of the contents of desirable and undesirable components. Plant Secondary Metabolites: Occurrence, Structure and Role in the Human Diet addresses this wider interest by covering the main groups of natural products from a chemical and biosynthetic perspective with illustrations of how genetic engineering can be applied to manipulate levels of secondary metabolites of economic value as well as those of potential importance in diet and health. These descriptive chapters are augmented by chapters showing where these products are found in the diet, how they are metabolised and reviewing the evidence for their beneficial bioactivity.

With over 1000 original drawings and 500 photographs, this work offers complete coverage of cell biology, plant physiology and molecular biology.

Plant Metabolites and Regulation Under Environmental Stress presents the latest research on both primary and secondary metabolites. The book sheds light on the metabolic pathways of primary and secondary metabolites, the role of these metabolites in plants, and the environmental impact on the regulation of these metabolites. Users will find a comprehensive, practical reference that aids researchers in their understanding of the role of plant metabolites in stress tolerance. - Highlights new advances in the understanding of plant metabolism - Features 17 protocols and methods for analysis of important plant secondary metabolites - Includes sections on environmental adaptations and plant metabolites, plant metabolites and breeding, plant microbiome and metabolites, and plant metabolism under non-stress conditions

Life has evolved as a unified system; no organism exists similar role also has been suggested for fatty acids from alone, but each is in intimate contact with other organisms cyanolipids. Nonprotein amino acids, cyanogenic glyco and its environment. Historically, it was easier for workers sides, and the non-fatty-acid portion of cyanolipids also are in various disciplines to delimit artificially their respective incorporated into primary metabolites during germination. areas of research, rather than attempt to understand the entire Secondary metabolites of these structural types are accumu system of living organisms. This was a pragmatic and neces lated in large quantities in the seeds of several plant groups sary way to develop an understanding for the various parts. where they probably fulfill an additional function as deter We are now at a point, however, where we need to investi rents to general predation. gate those things common to the parts and, specifically, those The second type of relationship involves interaction of things that unify the parts. The fundamental aspects of many plants with other organisms and with their environment. Bio of these interactions are chemical in nature. Plants constitute logical interactions must be viewed in the light of evolution an essential part of all life systems; phytochemistry provides ary change and the coadaptation, or perhaps coevolution, of a medium for linking several fields of study.