Rutin synthase in fava d’anta: purification and influence of stressors

The flavonoid rutin is synthesized in plants from quercetin, via a process in which isoquercitrin is an intermediary metabolite. In this work, the activities of isoquercitrin synthase and rutin synthase, and the quercetin, isoquercitrin and rutin contents of fava d’anta plants stressed for water (drought and flooding) and salt (NaCl) were studied. In general, stress increased the contents of the three compounds and both enzyme activities. Semi-purified rutin synthase and isoquercitrin synthase showed Km values of 1.816 and 2.10 µM, respectively, with optimum reaction pHs of 5 and 7, respectively, and an optimum reaction temperature of 35°C. Rutin synthase was purified from leaf buds and showed an apparent molecular mass of 39 KDa by SDS-PAGE. Mass spectrometry analysis of the purified protein did not reveal any similarity to the few known sequenced glycosyltransferases.Key words: Dimorphandra mollis, faveiro, flavonoid, isoquercitrin, quercetin.