L-Ascorbate (the reduced form of vitamin C) participates in diverse biological processes including pathogen defence mechanisms, and the modulation of plant growth and morphology, and also acts as an enzyme cofactor and redox status indicator. One of its chief biological functions is as an antioxidant. L-Ascorbate intake has been implicated in the prevention/alleviation of varied human ailments and diseases including cancer. To study the regulation of accumulation of this important nutraceutical in fruit, the expression of 24 tomato (Solanum lycopersicon) genes involved in the biosynthesis, oxidation, and recycling of L-ascorbate during the development and ripening of fruit have been characterized. Taken together with L-ascorbate abundance data, the results show distinct changes in the expression profiles for these genes, implicating them in nodal regulatory roles during the process of L-ascorbate accumulation in tomato fruit. The expression of these genes was further studied in the context of abiotic and post-harvest stress, including the effects of heat, cold, wounding, oxygen supply, and ethylene. Important aspects of the hypoxic and post-anoxic response in tomato fruit are discussed. The data suggest that L-galactose-1-phosphate phosphatase could play an important role in regulating ascorbic acid accumulation during tomato fruit development and ripening.

Plant‐derived diterpenoids serve as important pharmaceuticals, food additives, and fragrances, yet their low natural abundance and high structural complexity limits their broader industrial utilization. By mimicking the modularity of diterpene biosynthesis in plants, we constructed 51 functional combinations of class I and II diterpene synthases, 41 of which are “new‐to‐nature”. Stereoselective biosynthesis of over 50 diterpene skeletons was demonstrated, including natural variants and novel enantiomeric or diastereomeric counterparts. Scalable biotechnological production for four industrially relevant targets was accomplished in engineered strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

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Transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. Xanthi) plants expressing cucumber ascorbate oxidase (EC.1.10.3.3) were used to examine the role of extracellular ascorbic acid in mediating tolerance to the ubiquitous air pollutant, ozone (O 3 ). Three homozygous transgenic lines, chosen on the basis of a preliminary screen of AO activity in the leaves of 29 lines, revealed up to a 380-fold increase in AO activity, with expression predominantly associated with leaf cell walls. Overexpression of AO resulted in no change in the total ascorbate content recovered in apoplast washing fluid, but the redox state of ascorbate was reduced from 30% in wild-type leaves to below the threshold for detection in transgenic plants. Levels of ascorbic acid and glutathione in the symplast were not affected by AO overexpression, but the redox state of ascorbate was reduced, while that of glutathione was increased. AO overexpressing plants exposed to 100 nmol mol -1 ozone for 7 h day -1 exhibited a substantial increase in foliar injury, and a greater pollutant-induced reduction in both the light-saturated rate of CO 2 assimilation and the maximum in vivo rate of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase carboxylation, compared with wild-type plants. Transgenic plants also exhibited a greater decline in CO 2 assimilation rate when exposed to a brief ozone episode (300 nmol mol -1 for 8 h). Stomatal conductance, hence O 3 uptake, was unaffected by AO over-expression. Our findings illustrate the important role played by ascorbate redox state and sub-cellular compartmentation in mediating the tolerance of plants to ozone-induced oxidative stress.Abbreviations AO: ascorbate oxidase AE A sat : CO 2 assimilation rate under light-saturated conditions AE AA: L-ascorbic acid AE AWF: apoplast washing fluid AE c a : atmospheric CO 2 concentration AE c i : intercellular CO 2 concentration AE CFA: charcoal/Purafil-filtered air AE DAT: days after transfer to the respective treatments AE DHA: dehydroascorbate AE GSH: reduced glutathione AE GSSG: oxidised glutathione AE g H2O : stomatal conductance to water vapour AE PPFD: photosynthetic photon flux density AE ROS: reactive oxygen species AE V cmax : maximum in vivo rate of Rubisco carboxylation Planta (2003) 216: 918-928

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