Assistant Professor, Plant Biology and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Ph.D. (1993) Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.

Phone: 706-542-4496
Email: peled@ccrc.uga.edu

Research in the Bar-Peled Lab

Complex carbohydrates synthesis and regulation; biochemistry and molecular biology.

Lab Members

Awards

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Research Interests

Pectic and hemicellulosic polysaccharides are assembled in the Golgi apparatus by glycosyl transferases that catalyze the transfer of a glycosyl residue from a nucleotide sugar to a acceptor molecule. These polysaccharides are transported in vesicles that fuse with the plasma membrane and then released and integrated into the pre-existing wall. In contrast, cellulose is synthesized by protein complexes located in the plasma membrane. Cell wall polysaccharides may be modified as the cell grows and develops.

Selected Publications

Faik, A., M. Bar-Peled, A.E. DeRocher, W. Zeng, R.M. Perrin, N.V. Raikhel, and K. Keegstra. 2000. Biochemical characterization and molecular cloning of an a(1,2)fucosyltransferase that catalyzes the last step of cell wall xyloglucan biosynthesis in pea. J. Biol. Chem. 275: 15082-15089.

Bar-Peled, M., C.L. Griffith, and T.L. Doering. 2001. Functional cloning and characterization of a UDP-glucuronic acid decarboxylase: The pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans elucidates UDP-xylose synthesis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98: 12003-12008.

Harper, A. and M. Bar-Peled. 2002. Biosynthesis of UDP-xylose: Cloning and characterization of a novel Arabidopsis gene family, UXS, encoding soluble and putative membrane-bound UDP GlcA decarboxylase isoforms. Plant Physiol. 130: 2188-2198.

Watt, G., C. Leoff, A.D. Harper, and M. Bar-Peled. 2004. A bifunctional 3,5-epimerase/4-keto reductase for nucleoside-diphospho-rhamnose synthesis in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol. 134: 1337-1346.

Frydman, A., O. Weisshaus, M. Bar-Peled, D. Huhman, L.W. Sumner, F.R. Marin, E. Lewinsohn, R. Fluhr, J. Gressel, and Y. Eyal. 2004. Citrus fruit bitter flavors: isolation and functional characterization of the gene Cm1,2RhaT encoding a 1,2 rhamnosyltransferase, a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of the bitter flavonoids of citrus. Plant J. 40: 88-100.

Bar-Peled, M., C.L. Griffith, J.J. Ory, and T.L. Doering. 2004. Biosynthesis of UDP-GlcA, a key metabolite for capsular polysaccharide synthesis in the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans. Biochem. J. 381: 131-136.

Gu, X. and M. Bar-Peled. 2004. The biosynthesis of UDP-galacturonic acid in plants. Functional cloning and characterization of Arabidopsis UDP-D-glucuronic acid 4-epimerase. Plant Physiol. 136: 4256-4264.

Pattathil, S., A. Harper, and M. Bar-Peled. 2005. Biosynthesis of UDP-xylose: Characterization of a membrane bound UXS2. Planta 221: 538-548.

Frydman, A., O. Weisshaus, D.V. Huhman, L.W. Sumner, M. Bar-Peled, E. Lewinsohn, R. Fluhr, J. Gressel, and Y. Eyal. 2005. Metabolic engineering of plant cells for biotransformation of hesperedin into neohesperidin, a substrate for production of the low-calorie sweetener and flavor enhancer NHDC. J. Ag. Food Chem. 53: 9708-9712.