Poster Session 5, 3:15 PM - 4:00 PM: Room 163 [C12]
Evaluating the Substrate Specificity of Cytochromes P450 from Medicago Truncatula
Presenter: Sarmad Ameli
Faculty Sponsor: Sibongile Mafu
School: UMass Amherst
Research Area: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
ABSTRACT
Terpenes are compounds commonly found in plants. These compounds serve a wide range of purposes such as plant defense, communication, as well as the aromas that many plants have. Terpenes are produced by terpene synthases (TPS) and further modified by P450 (CYPs), which are enzymes that oxygenate the substrate molecules. There are many different CYPs, ranging from specific (only reacting with one substrate) to promiscuous (reacting with multiple substrates).In this project, we investigated CYPS from a putative sesquiterpene gene cluster in Medicago Truncatula on chromosome 5. Our objective is to define the promiscuity of three duplicated CYPs through defining structure-function reactivity with a range of sesquiterpene scaffolds. After understanding promiscuity, we will purify and catalog our resultant compounds allowing us to understand how these CYPs function and the type of products they create. Our research will define the influence of substrate structure on CYP reactivity, allowing us to build a biochemical toolkit that allows for the production of diverse chemicals that can be applied as pesticides.