Bollivar, Faculty Advisor, David W

Hoening, Thaddeus R

English

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Illinois Wesleyan UniversityDigital Commons @ IWUJohn Wesley Powell Student ResearchConference 1997, 8th Annual JWP ConferenceApr 12th, 1:30 PM - 2:30 PMBiochemical Analysis of the BCHP ProteinBelieved to be Involved in the ReductiveMaturation of BCHL AGG to BCHL AP inRhodobacter CapsulatusThaddeus R. HoeningIllinois Wesleyan UniversityDavid W. Bollivar, Faculty AdvisorIllinois Wesleyan UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/jwprcThis Event is brought to you for free and open access by The Ames Library, the Andrew W. Mellon Center for Curricular and FacultyDevelopment, the Office of the Provost and the Office of the President. It has been accepted for inclusion in Digital Commons @ IWU bythe faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@iwu.edu.©Copyright is owned by the author of this document.Hoening, Thaddeus R. and Bollivar, Faculty Advisor, David W., "Biochemical Analysis of the BCHP Protein Believed to beInvolved in the Reductive Maturation of BCHL AGG to BCHL AP in Rhodobacter Capsulatus" (1997). John Wesley PowellStudent Research Conference. 38.http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/jwprc/1997/posters/38997 Poster Presentation 42 BIOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF THE BCHP PROTEIN BELIEVED TO BE INVOLVED IN THE REDUCTIVE MATURATION OF BCHL AGG TO BCHL Ap IN RHODOBACTER CAPUSLATUS Thaddeus R. Hoenin� and David W. Bollivar* , Department of Biology, lWU Photosynthetic bacteria contain bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) which has two major portions , a magnesium tetrapyrrole and an esterifying alcohol . Bacteriochlorophyll plays a key role in photosynthesis which is necessary for converting radiant energy into energy that can be used in cellular processes. The esterifying alcohol portion affects the function of the BChl in photosynthesis ,  but its role is not well understood. Rhodobacter capuslatus typically produces BChl a that is esterified with phytol (BChl ap ) ,  but site­directed mutational analysis has shown that a mutation in bchP results in the accumulation of a BChl a esterified with geranylgeraniol (BChl agg ) indicating that the product of the bchP locus , the BchP polypeptide is necessary for the reductive maturation of BChl agg to BChl ap . In order to determine if BchP is sufficient for this process,  the gene has been amplified using polymerase chain reaction and restriction endonuclease sites have been created flanking the gene so that it can be cloned into a plasmid known as pT7 -7 downstream of a promoter that can be regulated. This construct was then transformed into a strain of E. coli (C600) which contains the pGPl-2 plasmid with the gene for T7 RNA polymerase which is under the control of the APL promoter. When the strain containing both plasmids is incubated at 420C, T7 RNA polymerase is produced which can transcribe bchP producing BchP. Future work will include in vitro assays to determine if BchP is sufficient for the maturation of BChl agg to BChl ap . 

Biochemical Analysis of the BCHP Protein Believed to be Involved in the Reductive Maturation of BCHL \u3cem\u3eA\u3csub\u3eGG\u3c/sub\u3e\u3c/em\u3e to BCHL \u3cem\u3eA\u3csub\u3eP\u3c/sub\u3e\u3c/em\u3e in \u3cem\u3eRhodobacter Capsulatus\u3c/em\u3e

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Biochemical Analysis of the BCHP Protein Believed to be Involved in the Reductive Maturation of BCHL \u3cem\u3eA\u3csub\u3eGG\u3c/sub\u3e\u3c/em\u3e to BCHL \u3cem\u3eA\u3csub\u3eP\u3c/sub\u3e\u3c/em\u3e in \u3cem\u3eRhodobacter Capsulatus\u3c/em\u3e

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