Methods for the identification of inhibitors of serine acetyltransferase activity in plants

US6770452B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• Paradigm Genetics, Inc. · US

Inventors

• John Rice · Pittsboro, US
• Lining Guo · Brownsburg, US
• Keith Davis · Durham, US
• Adel Zayed · Durham, US
• Robert Ascenzi · Cary, US
• Joseph C. Mitchell · Durham, US
• Daniel Riggsbee · Durham, US
• Douglas Boyes · Chapel Hill, US
• Rao Mulpuri · Morrisville, US
• Neil Hoffman · Chapel Hill, US
• Susanne Kjemtrup · Chapel Hill, US
• Carol Hamilton · Apex, US
• Jeffrey Woessner · Hillsborough, US
• Jorn Gorlach · Durham, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 28, 2003
• Grant date: Aug 3, 2004
• Expiry date: Mar 28, 2023

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02A40/146
• WIPO field: Biotechnology
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

The present inventors have discovered that serine acetyltransferase (SAT) is essential for plant growth. Specifically, the inhibition of SAT gene expression in plant seedlings results in reduced growth and altered pigmentation. Thus, SAT is useful as a target for the identification of herbicides. Accordingly, the present invention provides methods for the identification of herbicides by measuring the activity of an SAT in the presence and absence of a compound, wherein an alteration of SAT activity in the presence of the compound indicates the compound as a candidate for a herbicide.