Glucosylation is a prominent modification reaction in plant secondary metabolism. In many cases glucosylation is the last step in the biosynthesis of a number of secondary plant products including flavonoids, cyanohydrins, steroidal alkaloids, and saponins.

Glucosyltransferases are found in many organisms, and their particular importance for plants has been suggested In plants where a variety of enzymes has been detected, they exhibited diverse functions and anthocyanin metabolism regulation, auxin metabolism modulation, and an unknown function induced by methyl jasmonate and salicylic acid are among them.

Recently the gene encoding Solanum sogarandinum glucosyltransferase has been cloned during a screening of cold induced library. The functional characterization of both coding end regulatory sequences was performed.

First for in vitro analysis, the glucosyltransferase (GT) was expressed in pET wector and the protein was used for antibody generation and establishing enzyme specificity. Activity against both antocyanins and kampferol was confirmed.

In parallel the promoter specificity was analyzed by GUS method. It was established that glucosyltranferase promoter is strongly activated by UV light, cold and ABA. The obtained results were confirmed with Northern and Western blot analysis.

To study glucosyltransferase function in vivo two sets of transgenic plants were created- overexpressing glucosyltransferase alone and in tandem with dihydroflavonol reductase(DRF), a key enzyme of flavonoid synthesis in potato plants. Overexpressing GT in potato plants resulted in increased flavonoids content. The transgenic plants displayed increased resistance to pathogen infection accompanied by a significant increase in tuber yield. In contrast in plants over-expressing both the transgene for DFR and the transgene for GT, the synthesis of phenolic acids was diverted away from the anthocyanin branch- large amounts of kaempferol, chlorogenic acid, isochlorogenic acid, sinapic acid and proanthocyanins were detected. The study of various metabolite levels in transgenic plants confirmed the importance of glucosyltransferase in regulation of metabolite flux in phenylpropanoid pathway.

• Legal notice:
  

  Copyright (c) Pielaszek Research, all rights reserved.
  The above materials, including auxiliary resources, are subject to Publisher's copyright and the Author(s) intellectual rights. Without limiting Author(s) rights under respective Copyright Transfer Agreement, no part of the above documents may be reproduced without the express written permission of Pielaszek Research, the Publisher. Express permission from the Author(s) is required to use the above materials for academic purposes, such as lectures or scientific presentations.
  In every case, proper references including Author(s) name(s) and URL of this webpage: https://science24.com/paper/11295 must be provided.

1. The identification of the ACC synthase and ACC oxidase genes in Amaranthus caudatus L.