ASGSB 1999 Annual Meeting Abstracts

DIFFERENTIAL EXPRESSION OF DIRIGENT PROTEIN ISOFORMS. M. Kwon, V. Burlat, L.B. Davin, and N.G. Lewis. Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University, Pullman, WA.

Our discovery of dirigent proteins, which control the regiochemical and stereoselective outcome of monolignol radical coupling, has broad implication for radical - radical coupling in vivo leading to the lignan and biopolymeric lignins. Accordingly, this study was carried out in order to examine the differential expression of dirigent protein isoforms (psd-Fi1, psd-Fi2 and psd-Fi3) at the mRNA and protein levels in Forsythia intermedia: the data obtained revealed a pattern of distinct monolignol partitioning into the lignin and lignan biosynthetic pathway, respectively. We have also established that dirigent proteins are present in all vascular plant species examined thus far (e.g., Forsythia intermedia, Pinus taeda, Thuja plicata, Tsuga heterophylla, Linum usitatissimum, Eucommia ulmoides, Arabidopsis thaliana): significantly, the genes had no homology to proteins of any prior known function.

 (Supported by NASA: NAG2-1198).

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