Scientists have uncovered an unexpected way plants make powerful chemicals, revealing hidden biological connections that could transform how medicines are discovered and produced.

Plants produce protective chemicals called alkaloids as part of their natural defenses. People have used these compounds for a long time, including in pain relief medicines, treatments for various diseases, and familiar household products such as caffeine and nicotine.

Scientists want to learn exactly how plants build alkaloids. With that knowledge, they hope to create new and improved medicine-related chemicals faster, at lower cost, and with less harm to the environment.

In a study at the University of York, researchers examined a plant called Flueggea suffruticosa, which makes an especially strong alkaloid known as securinine. As they traced how securinine is produced, the team found a surprise: a key step depends on a gene that resembles bacterial genes more than typical plant genes.

Borrowing Tools From Microbes

The results suggest that plants may use an evolutionary "trick" that relies on biochemical tools often associated with microbes. By repurposing this kind of chemical machinery, plants can strengthen their defenses. The researchers say this pattern is likely not limited to a handful of species, and similar chemistry may be present across many other plants as well.

Flueggea suffruticosa
The study at the University of York focused on a plant called Flueggea suffruticosa. Credit: University of York

Dr. Benjamin Lichman, from the University of York's Department of Biology, said: "Plants and bacteria are really different forms of life, and so it really was a surprise to see that this significant plant chemical was being driven from a bacterial-like gene.

"We think that this means plants 'recycle' biological tools that are more commonly found in microbes, when they can be useful to them. Even more interesting was that this gene makes securinine in a completely different way from other well-known plant chemicals."

New Opportunities for Drug Discovery

By identifying this previously unknown process, the researchers were able to detect related genes concealed within the DNA of many different plant species. This breakthrough gives scientists a fresh method for finding beneficial natural compounds, along with new biological tools for producing them.

The plant genes identified in the study could be used to manufacture valuable chemicals in laboratory settings. This approach could lower reliance on harvesting rare plants and reduce the need for production methods that depend on aggressive industrial chemicals.

Dr. Lichman said: "Alkaloids can be toxic, so when we use them in medicines they have to be highly controlled and often modified, so understanding the process that goes into making alkaloids can help us develop new methods for producing them in the lab or removing them to make some plants less toxic.

"Now that we know how to look for this chemical production, and that we can find it in more plants than we originally thought, we have new avenues to explore for the production and discovery of safe drugs."

Broader Impacts for Science and Agriculture

The findings, published in the journal New Phytologist, could also help scientists learn more about how plants grow and survive, potentially leading to hardier crops.

Researchers say the work highlights how much there is still to learn from nature, and how unexpected discoveries in basic plant science can have wide-ranging benefits for medicine, agriculture, and the environment.

Reference: "Parallel evolution of plant alkaloid biosynthesis from bacterial-like decarboxylases" by Catharine X. Wood, Zhouqian Jiang, Inesh Amarnath, Lachlan J. N. Waddell, Uma Sophia Batey, Oriana Serna Daza, Katherine Newling, Sally James, Gideon Grogan, William P. Unsworth and Benjamin R. Lichman, 13 January 2026, New Phytologist.
DOI: 10.1111/nph.70884

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