Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference

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Analysis of Flavonoid Prenyltransferase Genes from the Transcriptome of Pueraria Mirifica and Induction of Isoflavonoid by Methyl Jasmonate (MJ) in Pueraria Cell Suspension

Undergraduate #1
Discipline: Biological Sciences
Subcategory: Biochemistry (not Cell and Molecular Biology and Genetics)

Jameshisa Alexander - Howard University

The Pueraria Mirifica plant has great value for is its high estrogenic content. The cultivation of estrogen can be useful in estrogen replacement therapy. The goal of this study is to understand Pueraria Mirifica’s production of estrogen through its transcriptome and the induction of methyl jasmonate. In this study methyl jasmonate will be used on the Pueraria Mirifica cell to see if the isoflavoniod in production is increased. Isoflavoniod is a major phytoestrogen, which is the source of the plant’s high estrogen content. The procedure was done through callus induction, elicitation of the pueraria cell suspension culture and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. The HPLC analysis provided chromatograms that graphed methyl jasmonate’s effect on pueraria. Results revealed that methyl jasmonate was not proven as a inducer but created interesting peaks of induction at 1.25 μm and 2.50 μm. In addition, the study examined the transcriptome of Pueraria Mirifica for analysis of the prenyltransferase gene to find the enzyme or gene that produces miroestrol. The analysis will be based on gene databases then using nucleotide alignments and translation of nucleotides to proteins. A phylogenetic tree was successfully created for the characterization and isolation of each flavonoid prenyltransferase gene. This is done because of the identification of isolate genes can produce miroestrol after polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification.

Funder Acknowledgement(s): NSF

Faculty Advisor: Ayanna Johnson, ayanna.johnson@bison.howard.edu

Role: Analysis of flavonoid prenyltransferase genes from the transcriptome of Pueraria mirifica & Induction of Isoflavonoid by methyl jasmonate (MJ) in Pueraria Cell suspension

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. DUE-1930047. Any opinions, findings, interpretations, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of its authors and do not represent the views of the AAAS Board of Directors, the Council of AAAS, AAAS’ membership or the National Science Foundation.