Abstract
Prenylated flavonoids have various physiological activities, and have also drawn a large attention as valuable compounds in the medical and food industry. Recent studies showed that the prenyl chain is crucial for their activities. In spite of the importance, there has been no report on the identification of flavonoid prenyltransferase genes in plants. Thus, we attempted to isolate a cDNA of flavonoid prenyltransferase from a leguminous plant, S. flavescens.
To isolate cDNA, we screened cDNA library using informatics analysis of EST data and yeast expression system in combination. The cDNA isolated was encoding naringenin 8-dimethylallyltransferase (SfN8DT) that catalyzes the substitution of dimethylallyl moiety with an aromatic proton. In S. flavescens plants, prenylated flavonoids are detectable only in the root bark. In accordance with this accumulation pattern, SfN8DT mRNA was detectable only in root bark, suggesting that prenylated flavonoids were biosynthesized specifically at root bark, where they are accumulated without translocation.
