Identification and functional evaluation of abscisic acid UDP-Glucosyltransferase gene candidates in grapevine (vitis vinifera).

• Main Author: Liu, Keyu
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2013
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/45528

In grape and some other fruits used for wine making, abscisic acid (ABA) has been demonstrated to be involved in regulating fruit development. ABA metabolism has been characterized in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and shown to involve at least three catabolic pathways that inactivate free ABA. Abscisic acid UDP-Glycosyltransferase (ABA-UGT), a member of Glycosyltransferase (GTs) protein family 1, is a key enzyme in the abscisic acid metabolism which leads to the deactivation of ABA. ABA-UGT catalyzes the glucosylation process from abscisic acid to its conjugated metabolite abscisic acid glucose ester (ABA-GE) in planta. ABA-GE is a terminal product of the ABA metabolic pathway and does not appear to have any biological function. Thus, manipulation of ABA-UGT in wine-making fruits will offer a possibility to control the metabolism of ABA with the potential to optimize the ripening of fruit. In this study, genomic and biochemical approaches were used to attempt to identify ABA-UGT in Vitis vinifera, the European grapevine species most widely used in wine making. The identification of ABA-UGT can be a foundation for further research about how ABA is involved in the fruit development and other processes in grapevine.