• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.203-206
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• 2002

${\gamma}-Tocopherol$ methyltransferase (TMT) is an enzyme catalyzing ${\gamma}-tocopherol$ into ${\alpha}-tocopherol$ at the final step of ${\alpha}-tocopherol$ synthesis pathway. Putative TMT cDNA clone specific to Perilla frutescens immature seeds was isolated from cDNA library. The cDNA clone consisted of 1369 bp open reading frame encoding 369 amino acids with a relative Mw of 42 kDa. Results revealed the CDNA has 60% homology to Arabidopsis thaliana TMT, and possesses methyltransferase and S-adenosyl methionine-binding domains, suggesting that cDNA encodes a ${\gamma}-tocopherol$ methyltransferase To characterize the properties of the TMT gene, the cDNA sequences coding for mature TMT were expressed in E. coli and assayed to determine the enzyme activity in vitro.