Major
Chemistry
Anticipated Graduation Year
2020
Access Type
Restricted Access
Abstract
In plants, sucrose is a major photosynthetic product, and it also plays an integral role in sugar sensing, development, and regulation of gene expression. Sucrose synthase, an enzyme found in plants, algae, and bacteria, catalyzes the cleavage of sucrose using a nucleotide (ADP or UDP). Studies have shown that the enzyme from Arabidopsis thaliana, a plant, prefers to use UDP as a substrate. Nitrosomonas europaea, a bacteria, catalyzes the cleavage of sucrose using ADP. By determining the critical residues involved in the enzymatic activity and the binding of the substrates, improvement and manipulation of the carbohydrate metabolism can occur.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Dr. Miguel Ballicora, Chair of the Biochemistry & Chemistry Department; Jaina Bhayani, Graduate Student, Department of Biochemistry & Chemistry
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Exploring the Nucleotide Specificity of Sucrose Synthase from Nitrosomonas europaea
In plants, sucrose is a major photosynthetic product, and it also plays an integral role in sugar sensing, development, and regulation of gene expression. Sucrose synthase, an enzyme found in plants, algae, and bacteria, catalyzes the cleavage of sucrose using a nucleotide (ADP or UDP). Studies have shown that the enzyme from Arabidopsis thaliana, a plant, prefers to use UDP as a substrate. Nitrosomonas europaea, a bacteria, catalyzes the cleavage of sucrose using ADP. By determining the critical residues involved in the enzymatic activity and the binding of the substrates, improvement and manipulation of the carbohydrate metabolism can occur.