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MSc Exit Seminar – Dominic Ludovice (Nambara lab)
September 24, 2015 @ 2:10 pm - 2:40 pm
MSc Exit Seminar
Thursday September 24th, 2:10 pm – Ramsay Wright Building, Rm. 432
Dominic Ludovice (Nambara lab)
“Engineering of the Plant Abscisic Acid Biosynthesic Pathway up to Zeaxanthin Epoxidase in Escherichia coli“
Abstract
Abscisic acid (ABA) is a phytohormone implicated in many aspects of plant growth development including the regulation of seed development dormancy and germination, and plant response to environmental stresses. ABA has potentially many industrial applications. Escherichia coli is an ideal platform to reconstruct the ABA biosynthetic pathway; because, the early part of the pathway, up to the precursor zeaxanthin, have been successfully reproduced in E. coli by Misawa and colleagues (1990). This was done by using the carotenoid biosynthesis gene cassette from Pantoea ananatis. In this study, A. thaliana genes was used to build the pathway starting from zeaxanthin. The next biosynthetic enzyme, AtZEP, was successfully expressed in E. coli and the new strain was able to produce violaxanthin efficiently. The next enzyme which utilizes violaxanthin, has yet to be identified, however. This system is now being used to identify missing genes of the pathway.
Ramsay Wright is a wheelchair accessible building.