Agnes Rimando co-authored more than a dozen papers and was co-inventor of three patents involving sorgoleone, a quinone produced by Sorghum spp. She was involved in showing that this phytotoxin is produced only in the root hairs of Sorghum spp. and that it is a good inhibitor of photosystem II of photosynthesis. Sorgoleone is used by the producing plant as an allelochemical to inhibit competing weeds. Her amazing skills in natural products and analytical chemistry were instrumental in verifying the sorgoleone biochemical pathway and identifying the genes encoding the enzymes of that pathway. Some of these findings were useful in her work on pterostilbene, when a group with her assistance showed that the gene for the unique O-methyl transferase in the sorgoleone pathway can be used as a transgene, along with a stilbene synthase gene, to impart pterostilbene production into other plant species. Work with the sorgoleone pathway is leading to transgenically imparting sorgoleone production into other crops to enhance their weed-fighting capabilities.  Her talents and scientific insights will be greatly missed.<br/>

Agnes Rimando’s studies of sorgoleone, a weed-fighting quinone

2019 Fall National Meeting

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