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Degree Name

MS (Master of Science)

Program

Biology

Date of Award

12-2009

Committee Chair or Co-Chairs

Cecilia A. McIntosh

Committee Members

Daniel K. Owens, Dhirena Kumar

Abstract

Flavonoids are plant secondary metabolites well known for many key roles in the life cycle of plants. They also can affect human health. Citrus paradisi is known to produce several glucosylated flavonoids and these compounds are glucosylated by enzymes known as glucosyltransferases (GTs). The focus of this research was to optimize the heterologous expression, enrichment, and biochemical characterization of grapefruit putative GT protein, PGT2, and to test the hypothesis that PGT2 is a flavonoid GT. Results showed detectable amounts of activity with quercetin, a flavonol; however, activity was lower than what would be expected if this enzyme were a flavonol-specific GT. In an additional aspect of this study, bioinformatics were used to test the hypothesis that additional putative GT clones could be identified using the harvEST database.

Document Type

Thesis - restricted

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

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