Abstract
Accumulation of scopolin, a β-glucoside of scopoletin, in Arabidopsis roots indicates existence of the enzyme catalyzing glucosylation of scopoletin.
We selected some of the glycosyltransferase (UGT) genes as the candidates according to the expression levels on the databases and obtained the T-DNA inserted mutants.
The roots of the ugt71c1 (At2g29750) mutants show the severe decrease in the level of scopolin and scopoletin. A high expression level of UGT71C1 is found in the roots of wild-type, whereas a little expression in the shoots.
The UGT71C1 transcript expressed by E. coli expression system exhibits the high activity against the coumarins posessing a 7-hydroxy group.
We concluded that UGT71C1 is the enzyme glucosylating scopoletin in Arabidopsis roots.
