Patent ID: 7966133

Claim:
A method of screening for potential substrates of a chalcone O-methyltransferase, said method comprising: (a) employing a three-dimensional (3-D) model of a chalcone O-methyltransferase having the structural coordinates of Appendix A or Appendix C to generate, on a computer, a 3-D model of a chalcone O-methyltransferase active site defined by the structural coordinates of residues 25, 27-29, 32, 33, 132, 135, 138, 139, 185, 189, 192, 278, 307, 321, 325, 328, 329, 332 and 333 of Appendix A or Appendix C; (b) identifying a compound that fits the chalcone O-methyltransferase active site, wherein a compound that fits the chalcone O-methyltransferase active site is a potential substrate; and (c) contacting a chalcone O-methyltransferase polypeptide with the potential substrate and determining catalytic activity of the chalcone O-methyltransferase on said potential substrate, thereby screening for potential substrates, wherein the chalcone O-methyltransferase polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence with at least 90% identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 and has chalcone O-methyltransferase catalytic activity.