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Home / 2018 / August / 07 / New study discovers gene that makes lavender smell sweet
Research

New study discovers gene that makes lavender smell sweet

August 7, 2018

Lavender is known for its purple colour and pleasant aroma.

Lavender is known for its purple colour and pleasant aroma.

UBC Okanagan researchers say discovery could lead to better smelling lavender

For many, summer isn’t complete without fields of purple and the sweet smell of lavender. Valued especially for its pleasant aroma, a new study from UBC’s Okanagan campus has discovered the gene that gives lavender its iconic smell and researchers hope that one day it might lead to a super-smelling plant.

Lavender essential oil contains many different types of compounds, but one in particular—S-linalool—is responsible for giving the plant a well-known sweet aroma.

“There are many desirable compounds within the flowering body of lavender that produce its essential oil, each controlled by a host of different genes,” says Soheil Mahmoud, associate professor of biology at UBC Okanagan and study lead author. “Scientists have been trying to identify and sequence the gene responsible for the oil’s sweet smell for years, especially given its obvious application in the cosmetic industry.”

The problem is that the genetic instructions that produce the sweet compound have been poorly understood. Mahmoud explains that the gene, which is responsible for a protein that synthesizes the valuable compound, is rarely expressed and produces only very small quantities of the sweet molecule. That has made it difficult to isolate and study.

But Mahmoud and his team were able to overcome the challenge by sequencing an RNA copy of the gene—a temporary blueprint that gets copied and released into a cell as it gets turned into a functioning protein. From there, they were able to sequence the gene and model its function.

“Now that we have the gene sequence and understand how it works, the next step is to engineer a version of the gene that produces even more of the valuable S-linalool,” says Mahmoud. “Lavender essential oils rich in S-linalool are extremely expensive, so a super sweet-smelling lavender plant would certainly be appealing to the cosmetic and fragrance industries.”

“It’s exciting to find the mechanism that gives one of my favourite plants its wonderful smell.”

The research was published in the journal Planta with funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Media Contact

Nathan Skolski
Associate Director, Public Affairs
University Relations

The University of British Columbia
Okanagan campus
Tel: 250 807 9926
E-mail: nathan.skolski@ubc.ca

Content type: Media Release
More content from: Biology, Irving K Barber School of Arts and Sciences (prior July 2020)

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About UBC Okanagan

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose traditional, ancestral and unceded territory the campus resides. The most established and influential global rankings all consistently place UBC in the top five per cent of universities in the world, and among the top three Canadian universities.

The Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley. For more visit ok.ubc.ca.

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