Degree Name
MS (Master of Science)
Program
Biology
Date of Award
8-2003
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Lee M. Pike, Cecilia A. McIntosh
Committee Members
Hugh A. Miller III
Abstract
Flavonoids play crucial roles in plant life cycles and in human welfare. Grapefruit plants produce several glycosylated flavonoids and the glycosylation reactions are catalyzed by UDP-glucose: glucosyltransferases (GTs). Our objective was to use the SMART RACE RT-PCR strategy to obtain cDNA sequences of putative grapefruit flavonoid GTs. Gene specific primers were designed from the plant secondary product glucosyltransferase (PSPG) box and used to amplify 5’GT clones. Clone-specific primers were designed from 5’clones to amplify 3’ GT clones. We obtained 5 5’ clones and 1 3’ clone as candidate GTs. We used 3 of these clones to predict 2 compiled GT sequences. Structural comparison of the putative GTs with functionally known GTs from other plants showed an overall low pair-wise sequence identity (11-31%), but high identity (52.2-75%) within the PSPG box. We conclude that assignment of function from sequence information is not appropriate; assignment should depend on biochemical characterization of expressed GT enzymes.
Document Type
Thesis - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Sibhatu, Mebrahtu Berhane, "Cloning and Sequencing of Glucosyltransferase (GT) Genes from Grapefruit (Citrus paradisi) Seedlings, Searching for 7-O-GT." (2003). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 793. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/793
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.