Plants are continuously challenged by microbial organisms living in their biosphere, such as fungi and bacteria. Metabolic reprogramming, both within the plant and the attacker, is essential in the establishment of these relations. Within UGent-funded collaborative projects, we are using our various omics platforms, including transcriptomics, protein-protein interactomics and metabolomics, to map the networks determining the metabolic reprogramming in the cells of both the infected plant organ and the attacker. 

Establishment of robust and sustainable production pipelines for plant bioactive metabolites is crucial for efficient exploitation, yet this is often hampered by the complexity of the molecules and their biosynthetic pathways. As such, the number of identified bioactive plant metabolites vastly exceeds that of those that are industrially exploited. Green chemistry via plant metabolic engineering can overcome current production bottlenecks if we find ways to increase our capacity to manage plant metabolism.

Given that JA is a universal elicitor of the biosynthesis of plant specialized metabolites, the research in my group focuses on the increasing of our understanding of the composition and functioning of the distinct modules of the JA perception and signaling cascade, both in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and the crop tomato (Solanum lycopersicum).