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Abstract Detail


Cell Walls

Roberts, Eric [1], Roberts, Alison [2].

Cellulose Synthase (CesA) Genes in the Red Alga Porphyra yezoensis Ueda.

As in land plants, the cellulose microfibrils of the conchocelis phase of red algae from the genus Porphyra are synthesized by clusters of cellulose synthase enzymes (terminal complexes). However, the morphologies of Porphyra terminal complexes and the cellulose microfibrils they produce differ from those of land plants. In order to characterize the genetic basis for these differences, we have identified a cellulose synthase (CesA) gene from Porphyra yezoensis Ueda strain TU-1. Based on similarity to a CesA from the moss Physcomitrella patens, one sequence was identified in a database of 20,779 P. yezoensis EST sequences. The conceptual translation of the corresponding 1093 bp cDNA clone (provided the Kazusa DNA Research Institute) includes two of the four catalytic domains that characterize CesA proteins. Using TAIL PCR with primers based on the cDNA sequence, we amplified four CesA fragments from P. yezoensis genomic DNA. Primers based on the contig assembled from these sequences were used to amplify a nearly full-length genomic CesA sequence hypothetically encoding all four CesA catalytic domains and the expected N- and C-terminal transmembrane domains. When this sequence was used for a second BLAST search of the P. yezoensis EST database, five additional ESTs with nearly perfect identity to the query sequence were found. Two appear to represent full-length cDNA clones. These EST sequences were not identified in the original search because of their substantial differences from land plant CesAs. The P. yezoensis CesA sequence is most similar to cyanobacterial CesAs and a class of CesA-like proteins present in P. patens and Selaginella moellendorfii, but not spermatophytes.
This research is supported by a grant from the Rhode Island Science and Technology Advisory Council.


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1 - Rhode Island College, Department of Biology, 600 Mt. Pleasant Ave., Providence, RI, 02908, USA
2 - University of Rhode Island, Department of Biological Sciences

Keywords:
Cellulose
red alga
linear terminal complex
CesA
Porphyra.

Presentation Type: Plant Biology Abstract
Session: P
Location: Exhibit Hall (Northeast, Southwest & Southeast)/Hilton
Date: Sunday, July 8th, 2007
Time: 8:00 AM
Number: P17037
Abstract ID:1920


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