(Phys.org)—A team of researchers at Purdue University in the U.S. and the University of Amsterdam and Université catholique de Louvain in the Netherlands has isolated the gene responsible for producing a protein that aids the release of volatile chemicals in flowering plants. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team describes how they isolated the gene and showed that it was responsible for producing the carrier protein. Franziska Eberl and Jonathan Gershenzon with the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology offer a Perspective piece on the work done by the team in the same journal issue outlining their findings and the implications the work will likely have on the field of plant research.