Enzyme structure, function, and evolution in flavonoid biosynthesis
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | eng |
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2019
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122067 |
| _version_ | 1826207394244329472 |
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| author | Liou, Geoffrey. |
| author2 | Jing-Ke Weng. |
| author_facet | Jing-Ke Weng. Liou, Geoffrey. |
| author_sort | Liou, Geoffrey. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:48:37Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | mit-1721.1/122067 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:48:37Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1220672019-09-19T03:03:09Z Enzyme structure, function, and evolution in flavonoid biosynthesis Liou, Geoffrey. Jing-Ke Weng. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology Biology. This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Biology, 2019 Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references. Plant specialized metabolism is a key evolutionary adaptation that has enabled plants to migrate from water onto land and subsequently spread throughout terrestrial environments. Flavonoids are one particularly important class of plant specialized metabolites, playing a wide variety of roles in plant physiology including UV protection, pigmentation, and defense against herbivores and pathogens. Flavonoid diversity has increased in conjunction with land plant evolution over the past 470 million years. This dissertation examines the structure, function, and evolution of enzymes in the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway. First, we structurally and biochemically characterized orthologs of chalcone synthase (CHS), the enzyme that catalyzes the first step of flavonoid biosynthesis, from diverse plant lineages. By doing so, we gained insight into the sequence changes that gave rise to increased reactivity of the catalytic cysteine residue in CHS orthologs in euphyllophytes compared to basal land plants. We then developed methods and transgenic plant lines to study the in vivo function of these CHS orthologs, as well as whether their functional differences play a role in redox-based regulation of flavonoid biosynthesis. Finally, we examined enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of galloylated catechins, a highly enriched class of flavonoids in tea that are thought to have health benefits in humans. These findings contribute to an understanding of the evolution of enzyme structure and function in flavonoid biosynthesis, and how it has facilitated the adaptation of plants to a wide variety of terrestrial habitats. by Geoffrey Liou. Ph. D. Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Biology 2019-09-16T16:39:55Z 2019-09-16T16:39:55Z 2019 2019 Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122067 1117709884 eng MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 134 pages application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| spellingShingle | Biology. Liou, Geoffrey. Enzyme structure, function, and evolution in flavonoid biosynthesis |
| title | Enzyme structure, function, and evolution in flavonoid biosynthesis |
| title_full | Enzyme structure, function, and evolution in flavonoid biosynthesis |
| title_fullStr | Enzyme structure, function, and evolution in flavonoid biosynthesis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Enzyme structure, function, and evolution in flavonoid biosynthesis |
| title_short | Enzyme structure, function, and evolution in flavonoid biosynthesis |
| title_sort | enzyme structure function and evolution in flavonoid biosynthesis |
| topic | Biology. |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122067 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT liougeoffrey enzymestructurefunctionandevolutioninflavonoidbiosynthesis |