CRC Press Biology of Plant Volatiles

Plant volatiles―compounds emitted from plant organs to interact with the surrounding environment―play essential roles in attracting pollinators and defending against herbivores and pathogenes, plant-plant signaling, and abiotic stress responses. Biology of Plant Volatiles, with contributions from leading international groups of distinguished scientists in the field, explores the major aspects of plant scent biology. Responding to new developments in the detection of the complex compound structures of volatiles, this book details the composition and biosynthesis of plant volatiles and their mode of emission. It explains the function and significance of volatiles for plants as well as insects and microbes whose interactions with plants are affected by these compounds. The content also explores the biotechnological and commercial potential for the manipulation of plant volatiles. Features: Combines widely scattered literature in a single volume for the first time, covering all important aspects of plant volatiles, from their chemical structures to their biosynthesis to their roles in the interactions of plants with their biotic and abiotic environment Takes an interdisciplinary approach, providing multilevel analysis from chemistry and genes to enzymology, cell biology, organismal biology and ecology Includes up-to-date methodologies in plant scent biology research, from molecular biology and enzymology to functional genomics  This book will be a touchstone for future research on the many applications of plant volatiles and is aimed at plant biologists, entomologists, evolutionary biologists and researchers in the horticulture and perfume industries. About the Author Eran Pichersky is the Michael M. Martin Collegiate Professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (MCDB) at the University of Michigan. He received his B.Sc. degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1980, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis in 1984. After doing research as a post-doctoral fellow at the Rockefeller University in New York, he has been on the faculty of the University of Michigan since 1986, serving as the first Chair of the newly created MCDB Department from 2001-2003. His awards include a Fulbright fellowship and an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship, both received in 2000, and a Guggenheim fellowship in 2015. He was elected a Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2012 and by the American Society of Plant Biologists in 2017. Dr. Pichersky has served on the editorial boards of several major scientific journals that cover plant research, and had previously edited (together with Dr. Natalia Dudareva) a book on the Biology of Floral Scent published by CRC Press. Dr. Pichersky’s research has concentrated on identifying the myriad compounds that are found uniquely in plants, many of which are extensively used by people, with emphasis on those that impart scent and flavor. His group further elucidates how plants synthesize these compounds, and how this information can be used to enhance the production by plants of such valuable chemicals. Over the years Dr. Pichersky’s research group has collaborated with many other research groups around the world, and Dr. Pichersky himself has spent extensive time as a visiting scholar doing research at scientific institutes around the world, including the United States, Germany, Israel and Australia. Dr. Pichersky has authored more than 250 reports, reviews, letters and editorials in scientific publications, and is a recipient of several patents.   Natalia Dudareva is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at Purdue University. She received her M.S. in biology and biochemistry from Novosibirsk State University, Russia and her PhD at the Institute of Biochemistry, Kiev, Ukraine and the University of Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France. After a postdoctoral training at the Universi