Maite Colinas

The paper identifies an STR ortholog in Pogonopus speciosus that produces the 3R epimer of strictosidine, revealing amino acids responsible for stereoselectivity and enabling engineered switches in stereoselectivity.

The paper identifies an enzyme, ICYC, that catalyzes the cyclization of an enol intermediate in the iridoid biosynthesis pathway in asterids, completing the pathway and enabling metabolic engineering of iridoid compounds.

This study shows that ipecac alkaloid biosynthesis evolved independently in two plant species using different monoterpene precursors and non-enzymatic reactions.

The paper constructs a cell-type-aware gene regulatory network for MIA biosynthesis in C. roseus using single-cell multi-omics data, identifying a novel idioblast-specific TF that regulates late-stage biosynthetic genes.

The paper identifies two CYP450 enzymes in Tabernanthe iboga responsible for oxidative modifications of tabersonine scaffolds using a streamlined screening strategy in Nicotiana benthamiana.