Insect herbivores have driven plants to evolve complex chemical defenses, including mimics of the arthropod molting hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E). Many distantly related plants produce 20E, suggest...

Nicotine is among the most consequential of plant alkaloids, yet how tobacco joins its two nitrogen-containing rings has gone unsolved for over a century. Two new studies complete the pathway, reveali...

The plant kingdom is rich with medicinal natural products that are complex and difficult to access. Discovering how plants build these molecules can be challenging, especially for biosynthetic pathway...

Scientists have uncovered how tobacco plants naturally make nicotine, solving a mystery that has puzzled researchers for nearly two centuries.

Despite the significance of nicotine, a neuroactive alkaloid produced by tobacco, its biosynthesis has remained elusive. Here, the authors report the in vitro and in planta reconstruction of a fo...

Despite the significance of nicotine, a neuroactive alkaloid produced by tobacco, its biosynthesis has remained elusive. Here, the authors report the in vitro and in planta reconstruction of a fo...

Despite the significance of nicotine, a neuroactive alkaloid produced by tobacco, its biosynthesis has remained elusive. Here, the authors report the in vitro and in planta reconstruction of a fo...

Nicotine is a neuroactive alkaloid produced by tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) as a defense against herbivory, and an addictive stimulant that has been used by humans for millennia. Despite its significan...