Over the past decade, advances in molecular biology have provided the
impetus for a resurgence of interest in plant metabolism. At a general
level, the potential for modifying the quantity or quality of
harvestable crop products through genetic manipulation has provided an
agronomic rationale for seeking a greater understanding of primary plant
metabolism and its regulation. Moreover, the now facile techniques for
transformation of many plant species and the consequential capacity to
manipulate the amounts of specific individual enzymes within specific
cell types provides an exciting direct approach for studying metabolic
problems. Such transgenic plants are also becoming invaluable tools in
studies at the interface between metabolism and other sub-disciplines
such as physiology and ecology. The interest generated in plant
metabolism by these developments has also encouraged the re-introduction
of more conventional biochemical techniques for metabolic analysis.
Finally, in common with other areas of cell biology, the wealth of
information that can be obtained at the nucleic acid level has provided
the stimulus for identification and characterisation of metabolic
processes in far greater detail than previously envisaged. The result of
these advances it that researchers now have the confidence to address
problems in plant metabolism at levels not previously attempted. This
book presents the proceedings of an international conference held on
9-11 January 1997 at St Hugh's College, Oxford under the auspices of the
Phytochemical Society of Europe.