Carl S. Onak, McKenzie Smith, Yulia Ivanova, and Seiichi P.T. Matsuda. Rice University, Houston, TX
Oxidosqualene cyclases (OSCs) convert oxidosqualene to cyclic triterpenoid metabolites. Over a hundred triterpene skeletons have been isolated to date, and new structures continue to be found. An oxidosqualene cyclase gene presented in this work has been cloned from the apple tree Malus domestica. The phylogenetic position of this enzyme will be presented along with the characterization of its products.