Vincent Kaltenbach (Universität Münster)
Vincent Kaltenbach's Master thesis was awarded with the Prize for the Best Plant Science Master Thesis, which was carried out at Universität Münster in the year 2024 with the title:
Investigation of the oxidosqualene cyclase family from Arabidopsis thaliana
Candidate oxidosqualene cyclases from Arabidopsis thaliana are consistently localized at lipid droplets, which may represent a promising target for engineering terpene synthesis and storage.
Plant terpenes not only cover essential native functions for plant survival but also have great potential for technical applications. Their complex cyclization is carried out by the oxidosqualene cyclase (OSC) family from one structural precursor. In a multistep approach, the structural properties of the respective candidates were first bioinformatically analyzed. Subsequently, subcellular localization studies and transient expression for production were performed. All OSCs shared a prominent superficial hydrophobic region and showed lipid droplet localization as confirmed by microscopy. Transient (co)-expression with upstream bottleneck enzymes revealed substantial amounts of triterpene products. Greater knowledge of their localization and production patterns may contribute to further biotechnological approaches aimed at increasing yields.
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Vincent Kaltenbach conducted this work at the Institute of Plant Biology and Biotechnology in the working group of Prof. Dr. Till Ischebeck.
