Decoding the Secret Language of Plants
A $1 million NSF grant is helping Williams scientists understand how plants communicate to thwart attacks.
When the Covid-19 pandemic shuttered labs and moved classes online in early 2020, biology professor Cynthia Holland used the additional time to learn about methyl anthranilate. The compound, which gives grapes their distinctive aroma, is often used to flavor foods, candies and beverages. Holland suspected that anthranilates might play a significant role in the plant world, but the literature offered little information about how the compound is produced.
“I thought, ‘We need to define these enzymes and learn how plants produce them,’” she says. “I saw it as, pun intended, low-hanging fruit.”
Anthranilates serve as intermediates in tryptophan biosynthesis, a process essential to plant growth. But some plants divert anthranilates into defense pathways that protect plants from insects and birds.
Holland’s lab has been researching how grapes, oranges and maize, in particular, produce methyl anthranilate. In a study published in The Plant Journal in 2024 and co-authored by several of her students, she revealed that grapes can synthesize the compound in a single step, similar to maize.
Their research caught the attention of the National Science Foundation (NSF), which awarded Holland a $1 million, five-year CAREER grant—the first ever given to a woman in biology at Williams. The grants are NSF’s most prestigious, providing support for early-career faculty who lead advances in their institution’s mission and show promise as academic role models in research and education.
Now, Holland and her students endeavor to answer bigger questions: Could methyl anthranilate serve as a signaling molecule between plants? Might it be part of a chemical “language” that plants use to warn each other of nearby threats?
“There are all these examples of plants communicating through volatile compounds,” Holland explains. “If one plant is attacked by an herbivore, it can release a compound into the air, and a neighboring plant can perceive that and activate its own defense genes. We don’t yet know if methyl anthranilate plays that kind of role—but it’s chemically very similar to known signaling molecules, and it makes a lot of sense that it could.”
To find out, her lab is exposing plants to methyl anthranilate to observe how they respond—whether they absorb the compound, recognize it and activate defense mechanisms in return. Early findings are promising.
“Our work in the Holland lab is fundamental to learning how plants interact with their environment on a molecular level,” says Aracely Watson ’25, a biology major and a co-author on the 2024 paper. “Understanding how plants have evolved to protect themselves is proving to be ever more important in the wake of growing environmental pressures.”
Holland points out that climate change and rising temperatures are forcing plants to respond differently to their environments. “But we don’t yet fully understand how that will affect their health or their ability to communicate with each other through airborne chemical signals,” she says. “Our research may uncover important insights into how plants will adapt to a changing climate.”
The research is as much about uncovering the mysteries of plant chemistry as it is about training students to become confident investigators, she adds.
“It’s important to be an inspiration to student scientists, especially female scientists, so that they can see that they can also be successful in STEM,” Holland says, adding that the NSF grant allows her “to train many more students than would be possible without it.”
This balance of rigor and support is a hallmark of Holland’s lab. “In addition to producing high-quality research, the lab is an incredible training environment where each student has full autonomy over their project,” says Watson, who plans to earn an M.Phil in biological science at the University of Cambridge this fall and then start a Ph.D. in plant and microbial biosciences next fall at Washington University in St. Louis. “Working in the lab has been a life-changing experience.”
Owen Patrick ’25, a fellow lab member, who plans to spend next year as a medical assistant doing clinical research in an allergy/immunology and gastroenterology clinic before attending medical school, says, “Professor Holland encourages students to take ownership of their work while also being an active mentor who dedicates ample time to help each student master experimental techniques. She fosters a fun and stress-free environment in the lab, emphasizing learning over perfection. By allowing students to guide their own projects, she helps them become independent thinkers.”