Estudi funcional de la formaldehído deshidrogenasa dependent de la glutació en plantes i llevat. Relació amb diferents tipus d'estrès

Formaldehyde is a cytotoxic agent that provoques mutations in Dna and has been categorised as a carcinogen. It is producing during normal cellular metabolism, but its concentration increases by oxidative stress. Formaldehyde is also an important atmospheric pollutant and a contaminant of residual industrial waters. The main enzymatic system metabolizing formaldehyde in eukaryotes is tne glutathione-dependent formaldehyde ande its invovement as a possible component of the defense mechanisms against different types of stress. For this, we shall use two biological systems, \i Arabidopsis thaliana \i0 and \i Saccharomyces cerevisae\i0. In \i Aradbidopsis\i0 we shall study the regulation of the gene expression by formaldehyde and glutathione and in relation to polytohormones and different biological situationns in wich osygen reactive species originate. Also the subcellular localization of the enzyme in \i Arabidopsis\i0 and \i S. cerevisae\i0 will be studied, and whether a relocaliztion of the same is triggered by biological stresses. The directed mutatgenesis of the \i S. cerevisae\i0 formaldehyde dehydrogenase gene will allow us to investigate the contribution of individual amino acids to the catalytic efficiency of the enzyme. Also in yeast, we shall investigate the interaction, \i in vivo\i0 , of the formaldehyde dehydrogenase with other proteins, by the two-hybrids system. Finally, transgenic plants carrying sense and antisense constructs of the \i Arabidopsis\i0 gene will be generated and its phenotype analyzed for a better understanding of the enzyme biological function.