How plants synthesise salicylic acid
(PHYSorg.com Biology)

The pain-relieving effect of salicylic acid, now sold as Aspirin, has been known for thousands of years. Besides being a useful drug with numerous health applications, it is a stress hormone made by plants which is essential in enabling them to fight off damaging pathogens. What was not known, however, is how plants generated this hormone. Now, an international research team led by the University of Göttingen with the University of British Columbia in Vancouver have at last unravelled the biosynthesis of this crucial hormone. Their results were published in Science.