Opportunities for Phytochemistry in Plant Biotechnology

This volume is dedicated to Tsune Kosuge in recognition of his distinguished career as 8 plant biochemist and his many contributions to the field of phytochemistry. Those contributions began over thirty years ago during his doctoral research at Berkeley when Professor Kosuge was examining the metabolism of coumarin precursdrs in leaves of Melilotus alba. The several papers resulting from that doctoral thesis were among the first enzymatic studies ever to be performed in the field of natural (secondary) plant products. It should also be noted that during his doctoral research Professor Kosuge obtained the first experimental evidence for the existence of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), the enzyme that controls the flow of carbon into phenylpropanoid metabolism. After obtaining his Ph.D., Professor Kosuge returned to the discipline of plant pathology where he had obtained an M.S. and began to utilize his skills as a biochemist to examine the molecular basis of plant-pathogen interactions.