Functional characterization of flavin-containing monooxygenases (FMOs) in plants

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Flavin-containing monooxygenases (FMOs) are enzymes used to oxygenate small molecules. The single yeast FMO gene has a function in redox regulation. For animal FMOs no endogenous substrates have been identified but it is well established that FMOs contribute to the detoxification of xenobiotica. In Arabidopsis 29 genes are annotated as FMO-like and an un-rooted tree generated by amino acid sequence alignment shows three major clades : a "YUCCA clade" of 15 genes with 11 of them likely involved in auxin synthesis, the defence related FA/07-gene (and -pseudogene) characterized by us and others, and two further related sequences of unknown function referred to as "solitary YUCCA-like". The two further clades here referred to as "non-YUCCA-like" FMOs clade I and clade n contain each 7 as yet functionally uncharacterized genes. We want to study the function of the FMO1, the solitary YUCCA-like and the 14 non-YUCCA-like genes. In the initial period, we shall use metabolomics to identify products of FMO1 and use plant genes to complement a yeast fmo mutant to identify functional homologues. Furthermore, we want to establish a collection of loss-of/gain-of-FMO function plants and monitor them under various stresses for obvious phenotypes. In this way, insights into the function(s) of specific FMOs are gained which might have interesting implications for the animal systems.