Re:Garlic Mustard, much beyond the east (Score 2)

Eric Boerman of Michigan State University appears to be looking for novel protein based methods for controlling the invasive species Garlic Mustard: (this is from MSU's website describing life sciences poster presentations) COMPUTATIONAL PREDICTION OF NOVEL INHIBITORS FOR MYROSINASE Eric Boerman Category: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Section 1 Poster: 33 Location: Lake Huron Room, 9:30 AM-11:30 AM Mentor(s): Leslie Kuhn (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) Myrosinase is an enzyme found in certain plant and microbe species that is a key component of the biosynthesis pathway of isothiocyanates - allelotoxins that suppress soil microbes that mutualistically benefit many plant species. This system is found in multiple economically-damaging invasive species in North America, such as Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata), which is the focus of this study. Because the invading plants do not require symbiotic soil microbes, they gain a selectionary advantage over native species. The goal of this project is to find novel inhibitors for myrosinase which can hopefully be used to control the spread of garlic mustard and other species. This will be done by computational analysis of ligand binding in myrosinase's active site. The structure of myrosinase is well-documented, and by looking at the manner in which known ligands bind to the active site we hope to determine catalytically-active amino residues within myrosinase. Once the important features within the active site are known, a library of molecules similar in structure to known substrates and cofactors will be assessed for their ability to bind to myrosinase's active site. This will be done computationally so that the list of candidates can be quickly narrowed. Promising candidates will then be tested in vivo to determine their quality as inhibitors of myrosinase.