Edward M. Davis

TL;DR: Biotechnological exploitation of these genes could lead to improved production yields of (−)-menthol, the principal and characteristic flavor component of peppermint.

TL;DR: Structural differences in the binding of the diphosphate moiety which initiates the ionization step of the electrophilic reaction sequence and in the access of water to the active site to permit stereoselective quenching of the initially formed carbocationic intermediate to produce 3R-linalool are revealed.

TL;DR: Experimental evidence is presented that the aromatic amino acids W324 and H579 play critical roles in the stabilization of intermediate carbocations and the potential of these residues to serve as the catalytic base facilitating the terminal deprotonation reaction is discussed.

TL;DR: These experiments failed to provide direct evidence for the tertiary intermediate of the tightly coupled isomerization-cyclization sequence, but did reveal a mechanistic difference between the olefin synthases and bornyl diphosphate synthase involving access of water as a participant in the reaction.

TL;DR: Pygmy rabbits seem to have a greater capacity to minimize systemic exposure to cineole than do cottontails, and other cinole-consumers, by minimizing absorption and maximizing detoxification of ingested cineoles.