Academia Sinica said yesterday that researchers have detailed the structure of an enzyme involved in the production of the scent given off by the mint plant, adding that the research was published in the US journal The Plant Cell on Feb. 5.
In an effort to better understand the process by which the mint plant produces its scent, Academia Sinica vice president Andrew Wang (王惠均) and his team from the Institute of Biological Chemistry (IBC) used x-ray crystallography, as well as biochemical and genetic studies, to map the structure of an enzyme that catalyzes the first critical step in the biosynthesis pathway of the mint scent formation.
MEDICINAL VALUE?
The volatiles that evaporate from plants to produce scent are very important in nature to attract pollinators and herbivorous predators and emit signals that ward off pathogens. They are also of interest to humans as medicines, but very little is known about them.
The group discovered that the enzyme is composed of two proteins — a catalytic protein and a regulatory protein. Through protein-protein interactions, the regulatory protein can remodel the active-site cavity of the catalytic protein for synthesizing the precursor of menthol, which is released from the plant as mint scent.
The research was conducted and financed by Academia Sinica and the protein crystallography synchrotron facility was supported by the National Genomic Medicine Research Program, a project funded by the National Science Council.
ONLINE
The article, titled “Structure of a Heterotetrameric Geranyl Pyrophosphate Synthase from Mint (Mentha piperita) Reveals Intersubunit Regulation” is available on The Plant Cell Web site at www.plantcell.org/cgi/content/abstract/tpc.109.071738v1.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra