Prof. Dr. Wilfried Schwab
Academic Career and Research Areas
As part of his research, Prof. Schwab (b. 1961) isolates and identifies secondary plant substances and investigates their biosynthesis and metabolism. The goal is biotechnological production of natural products which, due to their technological or physiological effect, determine the quality of foodstuffs (e.g. as additives for “functional foods”).
Prof. Schwab studied food chemistry at the University of Würzburg and did his doctorate in 1989. Following a postdoctoral stay at Washington State University, he spent three years working in Hoechst AG’s agriculture division. He returned to the University of Würzburg to complete his lecturer qualification in 1999. He worked in research after that, notably at Plant Research International in Wageningen (the Netherlands) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in Seville (Spain). In 2003, he accepted a position at TUM. Prof. Schwab is the initiator and founding partner of the Start-Up 4GENE, a company that offers biotechnologically produced aroma glucosides.
Awards
- Schormüller Fellowship of the LChG (1999)
- German Chemical Industry grant (1995)
- Dissertation Award of the Lower-Franconian Memorial Foundation for Science and the University of Würzburg (1990)
Key Publications
Sun G, Liao J, Kurze E, Hoffmann TD, Steinchen W, McGraphery K, Habegger R, Marek L, Catici DAM, Ludwig C, Jing T, Hoffmann T, Song C, Schwab W: Apocarotenoids are allosteric effectors of a dimeric plant glycosyltransferase involved in defense and lignin formation. New Phytologist. 2023; 238 (5): 2080-2098.
AbstractLiao J, Sun G, Kurze E, Steinchen W, Hoffmann TD, Song C, Zou Z, Hoffmann T, Schwab WG: Subfunctionalization of a monolignol to a phytoalexin glucosyltransferase is accompanied by substrate inhibition. Plant Communications 2022; 4 (3): 100506: 1-20.
AbstractKurze E, Wüst M, Liao J, McGraphery K, Hoffmann T, Song C., Schwab W: Structure-function relationship of terpenoid glycosyltransferases from plants. Natural Product Reports. 2021; 39 (2): 389-409.
AbstractShulaev V, Sargent D, Crowhurst RN, Mockler T, Veilleux R, Folkerts O, Delcher A, Jaiswal P, Lister A, Mane S, Burns P, Mockaitis K, Davis T, Slovin JP, Bassil NV, Hellens R, Evans C, Jensen R, Allen A, Michael T, Setubal JC, Celton J, Rees D, Williams K, Holt S, Dickerman A, Ruiz-Rojas J, Chatterjee M, Liu B, Silva H, Meisel L, Adavo A, Filichkin S, Velasco R, Troggio M, Viola R, Borodovsky M, Ashman T, Aharoni A, Bennetzen J, Dharmawardhana P, Elser J, Raja R, Priest H, Bryant Jr, D, Fox S, Givan S, Naithani S, Christoffels A, Salama D, Carter J, Girona E, Zdepski A, Wang W, Kerstetter R, Salzberg S, Schwab W, Korban S, Davik J, Monfort A, Denoyes-Rothan B, Arus P, Mittler R, Flinn B, Folta K: Nature Genetics. 2011; 43 (2): 109-116.
AbstractSchwab W, Davidovich‐Rikanati R, Lewinsohn E: Biosynthesis of plant‐derived flavor compounds. Plant Journal. 2008; 54 (4): 712-732.
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