Plants' Black Diamonds

”Plants’ Black Diamonds”
Plants are sessile organisms and produce an unprecedented array of structurally complex bioactive natural products. Plants use these molecules to communicate with the environment e.g. to fend off attack from herbivores and pests and produce volatile compounds to attract pollinators.  Many of these natural products are valued by humans as flavours, pigments or due to their health-promoting or medicinal effects. Some plants produce and store large amounts of such otherwise insoluble bio-active natural products in minute and dense biomolecular condensates, “Plants’ Black Diamonds”. Flowers of Sophora japonica, the Pagoda Tree, will be used as experimental system because the anthocyanin rutin constitutes 30% of their dry mass. What is the composition of these “Black Diamonds”, how are they formed, and which other biological functions might they have? These are the topics studied in this VILLUM Experiment funded project.