TSUZUKI Kei, a first-year doctoral student of the Laboratory of Plant Chemical Regulation (Associate Professor SETO Yoshiya), Agricultural Chemistry Program, School of Agriculture, received the Excellent Student Presentation Award at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Plant Biotechnology, held at the Rokkodai 2 Campus of Kobe University from Friday, September 5 to Sunday, September 7, 2025. The presentation title, the presenters, and the research content are as follows:
Presenter: TSUZUKI Kei, SUZUKI Taiki, NISHIYAMA Kotaro, and SETO Yoshiya
Title: Elucidation of the Isomerization Mechanism of Cinnamic Acid in Plants
Research content:
Cinnamic acid is an important chemical compound that acts as a precursor of major metabolites, such as lignin and flavonoids, in plants. The side-chain double bonds of cinnamic acids are predominantly trans. It is known that some cis-isomerized metabolites also exist, and interestingly, cis-cinnamic acids are known to exhibit specific phytohormone-like activity. However, the mechanism of trans-to-cis isomerization in plants was unclear. Using Arabidopsis thaliana, a model plant, the research group searched for factors that catalyze the isomerization and succeeded in finding a new isomerization catalyst. Further research is expected to clarify the mechanism by which a cis-cinnamic acid regulates plant growth.