Characterizing β-N-Methylamino-L-alanine and its naturally occurring isomers in cyanobacteria and plants
department or school: Science, Irving K. Barber Faculty of (Okanagan)
department or school: Chemistry, Department of (Okanagan)
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCO
creator: Solonenka, Julia Tekla
issued: 2023-08-03T20:04:21Z
issued: 2023
related degree: Master of Science - MSc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: β-N-Methylamino-L-alanine is a neurotoxic non-protein amino acid that is naturally produced by all taxonomic orders of cyanobacteria. Alongside BMAA, there are three isomers of interest: N-(2-aminoethyl)glycine (AEG); 2,4-diaminobutyric acid (DAB); and β-aminomethyl-L-alanine (BAMA), that have also been detected in cyanobacteria. While BMAA has been detected in a number of plant-cyanobacterial symbioses, there have been no explicit investigations into whether plants natively contain and/or produce BMAA and its isomers. However, considering that these non-protein amino acids have been detected in dinoflagellates, diatoms, and other zooplankton, it suggests that their biosynthesis was evolutionarily conserved in plastid lineages. In this thesis, I hypothesized that BMAA biosynthesis was conserved along Chlorophyte evolution. My objectives were to first ascertain that BMAA and its isomers could be detected in isolated monocultures of a variety of cyanobacterial genera, then determine whether BMAA and its isomers could be detected in plants representing the "tree of life". To accomplish these objectives, I established a collection of monocyanobacterial cultures from field samples of cyanobacteria through repeated subculturing over the course of 16 months, then detected and quantified BMAA, AEG, DAB, and BAMA using a previously published and validated ultrapure liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method. Through this work, I confirmed that isolated cyanobacteria collected from Lake Winnipeg, Peru and Chile, and Nunavut all produced BMAA and its isomers. Next, I sampled plants representing 10 clades across the “tree of life” and detected BMAA, AEG, DAB, and BAMA in more than half of the samples, demonstrating the occurrence of these NPAAs in green plants. Combined, these data provide the first evidence for the potential conservation of BMAA biosynthesis from cyanobacteria to the Chlorophyte plastid lineage and introduce plants as a novel model system to elucida…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/85383
note: Characterizing β-N-Methylamino-L-alanine and its naturally occurring isomers in cyanobacteria and plants by Julia Tekla Solonenka B.Sc., University of Waterloo, 2021 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Chemistry) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) July 2023 © Julia Tekla Solonenka, 2023 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a thesis/dissertation entitled: Characterizing β-N-Methylamino-L-alanine and its naturally occurring isomers in cyanobacteria and plants submitted by Julia Tekla Solonenka in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science in Chemistry . Dr. Susan J. Murch, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Chemistry Supervisor Dr. Isaac T. S. Li, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Chemistry Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Michael K. Deyholos, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Sanjoy Ghosh, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology University Examiner formatting iii Abstract β-N-Methylamino-L-alanine is a neurotoxic non-protein amino acid that is naturally produced by all taxonomic orders of cyanobacteria. Alongside BMAA, there are three isomers of interest: N-(2-aminoethyl)glycine (AEG); 2,4-diaminobutyric acid (DAB); and β-aminomethyl-L-alanine (BAMA), that have also been detected in cyanobacteria. While BMAA has been detected in a number of plant-cyanobacterial symbioses, there have been no explicit investigations into whether plants natively contain and/or produce BMAA and its isomers. However, considering that these non-protein amino acids have been detected in dinoflagellates, diatoms, and other zooplankton, it suggests that their biosynthesis was evolutionarily conserved in plastid lineages. In th…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2023-09
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0434664
language: eng
degree discipline: Chemistry
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Murch, S. J. (Susan J.)
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/85383