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

含黄素单加氧酶（FMO）是用于降解小分子的酶。单一的酵母FMO基因具有氧化还原调节功能。对于动物FMO，尚未鉴定出内源性底物，但已确定FMO有助于异生物质的解毒。在拟南芥中，29个基因被注释为FMO样，并且通过氨基酸序列比对产生的无根树显示了三个主要分支：15个基因的“YUCCA分支”，其中11个可能参与生长素合成，我们和其他人表征的防御相关FA/07-基因（和-假基因），以及两个被称为“孤立YUCCA样”的未知功能的进一步相关序列。在此称为“非YUCCA样”FMO的两个进一步的进化枝进化枝I和进化枝n各含有7个功能上尚未表征的基因。我们希望研究FMO 1、孤立YUCCA样基因和14个非YUCCA样基因的功能。在初始阶段，我们将使用代谢组学来鉴定FMO 1的产物，并使用植物基因来补充酵母fmo突变体以鉴定功能同源物。此外，我们希望建立一个收集的损失/增益的FMO功能的植物，并监测他们在各种压力下的明显表型。通过这种方式，可以深入了解特定FMO的功能，这可能对动物系统产生有趣的影响。

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.