Multicellular living organisms and unmodified parts thereof and – Method of introducing a polynucleotide molecule into or... – The polynucleotide alters fat – fatty oil – ester-type wax – or...
Patent
1996-08-22
1999-11-09
Campbell, Eggerton A.
Multicellular living organisms and unmodified parts thereof and
Method of introducing a polynucleotide molecule into or...
The polynucleotide alters fat, fatty oil, ester-type wax, or...
536 236, A01H 104, C07H 2102
Patent
active
059818310
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This application claims benefit of international application PCT/GB95/00372, filed Feb. 23, 1995.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to novel nucleotide sequences and to vectors and hosts comprising said sequences. The invention also relates to a method of altering the characteristics of plants.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Pectin is a major matrix polysaccharide found in the cell wall of plants. Pectins are composed of two distinct regions. The smooth region comprises of long stretches of homogalacturonan interrupted by rhamnose, and is relatively unbranched. The hairy region is rich in galacturonic and rhamnose residues and is highly branched. The side branches contain different sugars but primarily comprise the neutral sugar side chains, arabinan, .beta.-(1.fwdarw.4)-galactan and arabinogalactan. The function of these neutral sugar polysaccnaride side chains has not been fully established. It is speculated that they may function in modulating the pore size of the cell wall and therefore the mobility of proteins, possibly restricting access of various enzymes to their substrates. Moreover, the interaction of the side chains between themselves and with other cell wall polymers could contribute to the structure of the cell wall and the rheoiogical properties of products derived from them. In vitro studies carried out on a solution of apple pectin with different neutral sugar contents demonstrate that increase in branching of pectin results in higher zero-shear viscosity. It was concluded that this was due to pectin side chain interactions. In addition, more branched pectin gives higher elastic or storage moduli (G') than less branched pectin, suggesting that side chain of pectins contribute to elastic properties (Hwang et al., (1993) Food Hydrocolloids 7, 39-53).
The hydrolysis of .beta.-(1.fwdarw.4)-linked galactose from polymeric galactan side chains of pectin has been demonstrated in different plants and in various physiological states (de Vetten and Huber (1990) Physiol. Plant. 78, 447-454; Fischer and Bennett (1991) Ann. Rev. Plant Physiol Plant Mol. Biol. 42, 675-703). During the process of fruit ripening, the loss of the neutral sugar, galactose, is the single most extensive change in the cell walls of many fruits (Fischer and Bennett 1991). Galactose mobilization during fruit ripening has been demonstrated in several fruits including tomato, hot pepper, strawberry, apple, coffee, muskmelon, kiwi fruit, and nectarines. During the senescence of carnation petals, the decrease in cell wall yield is due largely (45%) to a loss of the neutral sugar galactose (de Vetten and Huber 1990). In germinating lupin cotyledons, up to 80% of galactose is mobilized primarily from the .beta.-(1.fwdarw.4)-linked galactan side chains of the rhamnogalacturonan backbone from secondary cell walls adapted to a storage function. A .beta.-galactosidase (exo-(1.fwdarw.4)-.beta.-D-galactanase) would be the enzyme activity predicted to be responsible for galactose mobilization from the galactan side chains of pectin.
.beta.-Galactosidase enzvme activities (including exo-galactanase activities) in plants have been described in the prior art (Dick et al., (1990) Physiol. Plant. 89, 369-375; Burns (1990) Phytochemistry 29, 2425-2429; Singh and Knox. (1985) Phytochemistry 24, 1639-1643; Kundu et al., (1980) Phytochemistry 29, 2079-2082). The purification of some .beta.-galactosidase enzymes has been described, though in many instances synthetic substrates rather than endogenous substrates have been used for enzvme characterization (Ogawa et al., (1990) Nippon Shokuin Kogyo Gakkaishi 37, 298-305; Giannakouros et al., (1991) Physiol. Plant. 82, 413-418). There is evidence that plant .beta.-galactosidases may be associated with developmental processes requiring cell wall turnover, like tissue elongation in Cicer arietinum epicotyl segments. In this tissue, .beta.-galactosidase has been demonstrated to he responsible for autolysis, and the natural substrate of the autolytic reaction is the pectic fraction of the cell wa
REFERENCES:
King, G.A., et al., "A Officinalis L. mRNA for beta-galactosidase", EMBL Sequence Database, Feb. 2, 1994, Release 38, Accession No. X77319.
Buckeridge, M.S. et al., "Purification and properties of a novel beta-galactosidase or exo-(1,4)-beta-D-galactanase from the cotyledons of germinated Lupinus angustifolius L. seeds", Planta, vol. 192, No. 4, 1994, pp. 502-511.
Raghothama, K.G., et al., "Characterization of an ethylene-regulated flower senescence-related gene from carnation", Plant Molecular Biology, vol. 17, 1991, pp. 61-71.
Edwards, M., et al., "A Beta-D-Galactosidase from Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus L.) Cotyledons", Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 263, No. 9, Mar. 25, 1988 US, pp. 4333-4337.
Pressey, R., et al., "Beta-Galactosidease in Ripening Tomatoes", Plant Physiology, vol. 71, 1983, pp. 132-135.
Matheson, N.K., et al., "Alpha-L-Arabinofuranosidases and Beta-D-Galactosidases in Germinating-Lupin Cotyledons", Carbohydrate Research, vol. 57, 1977, pp. 103-116.
Starrett, D.A., et al., "Partial Purification of an Alpha-Galactosidase, Beta-Glactosidase, and Alpha-Mannosidase from Ripening Tomato Fruit", Plant Physiology, vol. 102, No. 1, May 1993, p. 49, (see abstract 261).
Chengappa Sumant
de Silva Jacqueline
Hellyer Susan A.
Reid John S.
Campbell Eggerton A.
Unilever Patent Holdings B.V.
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