The invention provides an isolated nucleic acid molecule encoding the polypeptide GALAT1 having galacturonosyltransferase (GalAT) activity. The Arabidopsis GALAT1 sequence disclosed represents the first pectin biosynthetic glycosyltransferase gene isolated from plants. The invention further provides 14 GALAT and 10 GALAT-like gene superfamily members. The identification of the GALAT gene superfamily offers new opportunities to modulate pectin synthesis in vivo and in vitro by modulating the GALAT gene, for example, transgenic plants that produce modified pectins can be generated by altering the GALAT gene. Since modified pectins are predicted to affect plant growth, development, and plant defense responses, the transgenic plants are expected to have improved agricultural value. The modified pectins isolated from such transgenic plants are useful as gelling and stabilizing agents in the food, neutraceutical, and pharmaceutical industries. The expressed proteins, and variants thereof, of the GALAT superfamily are useful to produce in vitro modified pectins of commercial value.

University of Georgia Research Foundation

Nucleic acids encoding a galacturonosyl tranferase enzyme (GALAT1) from arabidopsis

Plant cell walls play a crucial role in development, signal transduction, and disease resistance. They are made of cellulose and matrix polysaccharides such as hemicelluloses and pectins. Xyloglucan, the principal hemicellulose of dicotyledonous plants, has a terminal fucosyl residue that may affect the extensibility of the cell wall and thus influence plant growth and morphology. The fucosyltransferase (FTase) that adds this residue was purified from pea epicotyls. Peptide sequence information derived from the 62 kDa purified pea FTase made it possible to clone a homologous gene from Arabidopsis. The instant invention involves methods of expressing the Arabidopsis FTase gene in plants and plants thereby obtained.

pectin/arabidopsis

Nucleic acids encoding a galacturonosyl tranferase enzyme (GALAT1) from arabidopsis

Xyloglucan fucosyltransferase plants transformed with a DNA encoding arabidopsis

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