Budget Amount *help |
¥3,780,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥180,000)
Fiscal Year 2007: ¥780,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥180,000)
Fiscal Year 2006: ¥800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000)
Fiscal Year 2005: ¥2,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,200,000)
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Research Abstract |
In plant cell, some C1 metabolic genes play important role in supply of methyl residues for synthesis of various types of compounds. We tried to identify which genes in the C1 metabolic pathway are important for lignin biosynthesis in which a lot of methyl residues should be needed. Expression of several genes, serine hydroxymethyltrans-ferase (SHMT), glycine decarboxylase, formyl THF synthetase, THF dehydrogenase/cyclohydrolase, Methylene THF reductase, Methionine synthetase, Methionine adenosyl-transferase, were analyzed by RT-PCR and virtual Northern blot analyses. In poplar plants, one of SHMT genes is expressed in xylem tissue which contains higher amount of lignin. In Arabidopsis, SHMTs were coded by seven different genes. At first, we analyzed expression pattern of each genes in various tissue of Arabidopsis plant by PT-PCR. As a result of the analysis, although six of the seven genes were expressed in xylem tissue, expression of SHMT7 (At4g13930) was highest among those of the genes analyzed. For more depth analysis, we isolated Arabidopsis mutant with T-DNA insertion into one of SHMT genes (SHMT7, At4g13930) and characterized phenotypes of it. After cultivation of the mutant in soil, lignin biosynthesis of the plant was analyzed under light microscopy with thin section of stem tissue. The results of the analysis suggest lignin content of xylem tissue in the mutant is slightly lower than that in wild-type plant. We analyzed. These data indicate that SHMT may play any role in supply of methyl residue to lignin biosynthetic pathway.
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