Bioinformatics and the functional characterization of glycosyl transferases (GTs)

The unique and plant specific structure of many of the complex plant cell wall polysaccharides has made identification of GTs by simple homology approaches infeasible. Based upon 2D- and 3D-structural information, we have set up an alternative bioinformatic scheme aiming at identifying type II membrane anchored GTs with potential function in pectin-, hemicellulose-, xylan biosynthesis. This screen yielded 29 accessions with an N-terminal transmembrane domain typical of type II proteins and which was predicted to adopt a 3D-structure similar to GTs with crystallized structures. This work has so far led to the establishment of the CAZy-family GT77 and the identification of alpha-xylosyl transferases involved in Rhamnogalacturonan-II biosynthesis.

 

Publications
Egelund, J.; Skjøt, M.; Geshi, N.; Ulvskov, P. and Larsen Petersen, B. (2004) A complementary bioinformatics approach to identify potential plant cell wall glycosytransferase encoding genes. Plant Physiol. 136: 2609-2620